FateStay Night: Dai Taisen
by ShadowBurner
Summary: The wheels of time turn in many directions, and it takes the smallest change to alter the course of destiny. What if Shirou Emiya took a fourth path in Fuyuki's Fifth Holy Grail War? Those actions have put the people he cares about in even more danger than they already were, as seven new Masters appear, and Fuyuki's First Great Holy Grail War begins. **STORY ON HIATUS, APOLOGIES**
1. The Knight Of Treachery

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or any related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

Deep within the darkness of the thaumaturgical construct known as the Greater Holy Grail, a being born of the blackest shadows and foulest sins of mankind boiled over in rage.

He should have predicted this. In hindsight, it was quite obvious what could have happened when those two Servants met each other. In hindsight, he should have chosen a different Servant to summon for either the Einzbern homunculus, his chosen vessel, or that man from the Mage's Association. Both, even. Bringing those two specific Servants together, Caster and Berserker, was an unimaginably stupid error of judgment on his part.

Heracles, the most powerful and famous Hero of all ancient Greece, son of the King of the Gods, Zeus.

Medea, the betrayed princess of Colchis who assisted the Hero Jason.

Heracles once played host to Medea in life, and that sacred bond of xenia between host and guest connected them together even as Heroic Spirits. And as Hospitality is a domain of Heracles' divine father Zeus, that bond was even stronger than normal.

Even with his intellect left at a mere dust mote of its full brilliance due to the Berserker class' Madness Enhancement skill, Heracles would be completely incapable of harming Medea even if he wanted to, and it would take either a force greater than mighty Zeus himself or Medea personally assaulting the demigod for that bond's restraint to be lifted.

Thanks to his oversight and that damnable Shirou Emiya's insistence on saving every person he possibly could, the boy and his Servant, the legendary King Arturia Pendragon of the Saber class were able to reach an agreement with Medea and her new master. Caster would leave them alone, and they would leave her alone.

It seemed all Medea really wanted was to spend as much time with her new master as she possibly could, and Shirou wanted to avoid as much conflict as possible.

It was just as likely Caster planned to betray the Emiya boy in the future. While the betrayal and exile she suffered were tragic, Caster undoubtedly possessed a conniving, scheming nature of her own. Though the love she felt for her master appeared genuine, she clearly had other interests in mind as well.

This also neutralized any threat from Caster's own Servant, the fictional Assassin Sasaki Kojirou, as his only purpose was to protect Caster and the temple she called home.

This turn of events, while unfavorable to his schemes, would have worked itself out in due time had Berserker been anyone other than Heracles. Thanks to the protection Caster's bond with the demigod offered them, Shirou and Saber were able to force the Einzbern doll that was Berserker's master to sit down with and listen to her adopted brother.

It was infuriatingly ironic. The adopted child and spawn of the previous man the entity had tried to use for its plans, Kiritsugu Emiya, were now acting like brother and sister. The girl's mother, Irisviel von Einzbern, was even the previous Lesser Holy Grail. It seemed the Emiya family was destined to screw up the entity's plans, no matter if they were unaware of it or not.

Then, the overwhelming might of the alliance between Heracles and King Arthur had made them intimidating enough to force the Tohsaka girl and her Servant Archer into their group as well.

The entity briefly considering using the previous war's Archer, Gilgamesh, to defeat this alliance, but decided against it. While Gilgamesh was currently contracted with a man named Kirei Kotomine, his Independent Action skill meant he could freely ignore his master's commands. Even though Kirei shared the entity's desires for mankind, (that was why the Shadow chose to resurrect him after all,) Gilgamesh did not, at least to the same extent. And he was dangerous.

The Shadow hadn't absorbed him in the last war because the ancient King of Uruk _horrified_ him. The King of Heroes was far too powerful to even consider manipulating. He would surely destroy the entity in retaliation.

Plans laid more than a century in advance were about to go to waste, and there was nothing the Shadow could do about it. Though he pretended to be a Servant of the unique Avenger class, and even… accepted orders from his "master", a girl named Sakura Matou, he was, well, weak.

Almost disgustingly so. Oh sure, Avenger was more than a match for any normal human and most mages. Even Servants with E rank parameters were well above ten times higher than a mortal's capabilities.

But aside from his technical status as a Servant, Avenger _was_ a normal human. The only real advantage he had was his ability to hide in the shadows of people. Fighting against other Servants directly was impossible. The failure the Einzberns suffered in the Third Holy Grail War was proof of that. The failure _he_ suffered.

Then again, he couldn't complain really. That defeat was what had gotten him into the Grail in the first place, and put him in his current position. Oh, yeah. His current position wasn't exactly a good one.

Just as the entity was about to lose itself in its overwhelming flood of hatred for the Emiya family, it remembered a crucial detail of the object it had corrupted.

The Greater Holy Grail had a Reserve System, exactly for situations such as this. When a majority of the Servants summoned for the Holy Grail War were united under a single banner, seven more masters could be chosen and seven more Servants could be summoned. All the entity needed to do was give Command Seals to seven more humans and make sure none of their Servants would cooperate with the Fuyuki group, and it would have what it needed.

It mattered not where the humans came from, how strong they were, or even that they win. All that mattered was that the entity received the energy of more Servants, and that it manifested itself through the winner's wish. The masters could all be children off the streets for all he cared.

Though this presented the entity with another problem. It would need to summon a Ruler class servant of its own to ensure the two teams followed the rules. Fortunately, there were many eligible candidates in the Throne of Heroes to choose from, and he had until all of the new masters summoned their Servants to make a choice.

Yes, Jeanne D'arc would do quite nicely, or perhaps Saint Martha, or even Sherlock Holmes.

Alright, maybe not Holmes. With his luck, the detective would figure out what was going on behind the scenes and unite all fourteen master-Servant pairs within a day.

The others, though, would make excellent pawns.

Within the darkness of the Greater Holy Grail, the entity began to laugh. He could still turn this setback to his advantage after all! The energy he would gain from the spirits of that many Servants would just make him that much stronger when he manifested himself.

Avenger would realize his ambition, and All The World's Evil would destroy humanity. 

.-.

Batreaux Westwood was decidedly not having a good day. First the blond American found out he was being fired from his job as a janitor at the local high school. Personally he thought it was complete bullshit. He may not have been good at much, but if there was one thing he was good at, it was cleaning.

It had taken him longer than he liked to admit to get even that job in the first place, and he gets fired after only three months? Total bullshit. He was one of the best janitors the school had ever seen! Though he had to admit, it may have had something to do with the weird tattoo that had appeared on the back of his right hand. Couldn't set a bad example for all the kids at school, right?

That was the odd thing, the tattoo just showed up on his hand overnight. Batreaux enjoyed alchohol, yes. Perhaps more than a man should, yes. But aside from one time in Dallas ("Don't ask," he'd tell anyone who'd ask,) he'd never actually been _drunk_ before. Hell, even then he was still lucid. He'd definitely remember getting a tattoo, especially one as expensive as this.

It certainly _looked_ expensive. With a strange, intricate design, the tattoo appeared to be three smaller tattoos arranged to form the shape of a medieval knight's helmet. Batreaux could practically feel some kind of vile sorcery directly attacking his bank account just by looking at it.

Batreaux really hoped this was some kind of prank his roommate was pulling on him and that the tattoo was temporary. If it wasn't, well, his already limited finances would pretty much be ruined, and he knew Elise wasn't stupid enough to use their rent money on a joke like this. He hoped she wasn't anyway.

Though if this was a real tattoo he needed to find another job, and fast. He and Elise were almost out of time to pay their rent for the next month, and her job flipping burgers didn't really bring in enough cash for the both of them.

Batreaux was startled out of his thoughts by the screech of tires grinding to a halt and the incessant honking of a car horn. Apparently while lost in his thoughts the 24 year old nearly got himself run over by a now very angry driver shouting expletives at him as he hurried through the crosswalk.

"Pedestrians have right-of-way, asshole!" he shouted at the driver as she sped off. Sure, he should've paid more attention to where he was going, but that idiot driver shouldn't be trying to run red lights either. "tch."

Batreaux's mood improved itself after realizing he'd arrived at his destination, the local church. Batreaux wasn't a very religious man, but he'd developed a friendship with the pastor, Father Giovanni Bianchi. The old man was the archetypal priest, kindly and patient. He'd given Batreaux a lot of good advice over the years, filling the role of a father figure where his biological father had failed.

Of course, as was usual when Batreaux visited the old man was alone in his office, so he had to knock to get the priest's attention.

A moment later, the solid oak door opened with a slight creak, and the wrinkled face of Father Bianchi lit up upon seeing his friend. "Ah, Batreaux. It is good to see you again. Please, come in." Father Bianchi held the door open as his friend sat down in the leather chair facing the priest's desk, and a moment later the priest sat down behind the desk, door closing with a faint click.

The shelves behind Father Bianchi's desk were filled with a variety of books on all kinds of subjects, ranging from archaeology to zoroastrianism. They were also filled with scripture and other clerical texts, though that was to be expected of a priest.

What really caught Batreaux's eye was a new book on the desk, " _History and Principles of Thaumaturgy"_. He was unsure why, but he felt a slight burning on the back of his hand when he looked at it. Only later would Batreaux realize the burning was in the same spot as his mysterious new tattoo.

"If you don't mind my asking, Father, where'd you get your new book from?" The old man smiled. He was quite pleased to see the younger man taking an interest in his collection at long last.

"Oh, this?" Father Bianchi answered. "I'm borrowing it from an associate of mine, a man known as Lord El-Melloi II. Were you interested in it?"

Batreaux leaned forward in his seat, blowing a lock of blond hair out of his face. "Yeah, kinda. It's a book about Thaumaturgy, right? I didn't expect a priest to be studying magic. Uh, no offense."

Father Bianchi simply chuckled lightly in response. "None taken my friend. Think of it the same way you would a stage magician's performance. It may not be real magic, but one can still appreciate the effort and techniques that go into the illusions, correct?"

Batreaux thought this seemed reasonable at first. But after thinking on it for a moment he had some questions. "Wait a second. You just said it's not 'real' magic. But Thaumaturgy means magic, or something like that right? How can it both be real and not real at the same time?"

A wry smile appeared on Father Bianchi, and the priest stroked his magnificent beard as he thought to himself. He had noticed the "tattoo" on Batreaux's hand, and he knew what it was.

 _So, the boy has received a Command Seal… I suppose I'll need to explain the situation he's in now._

Father Bianchi reached under his desk and opened the safe he kept a valuable item in. When he placed it on the desk, to Batreaux it seemed like a simple piece of wood, albeit a very smooth, nice looking piece of wood. In actuality, the piece of wood was once part of the legendary Round Table. Upon seeing Batreaux's Command Seal, the priest decided to entrust his young friend with the valuable catalyst in the hopes he could summon an honorable knight to protect him, should he pursue the path fate had placed him on.

"It is quite simple. You see, Thaumaturgy is not magic, but rather an imitation of it known as magecraft. While they use the same energies, True Magic is capable of accomplishing acts beyond the laws of reality, while magecraft must adhere to said laws."

Batreaux found himself irritated with the priest for the first time since they had met. He readjusted his jacket and ground his teeth lightly. Either Elise and Father Bianchi had decided to prank him separately or they were working together on a joint venture.

Either way, he didn't really appreciate it given how expensive his new tattoo seemed to be. Batreaux wasn't nearly drunk enough or rich enough to put up with this shit right now.

His grip tightened on the arm of the chair and he spoke as calm as he possibly could. "I mean no disrespect, Father, but I'm really not in the mood for this kind of joke right now. Magic's not real. In fact what you just described sounds a lot like science."

"Is science not magic men know and understand? Do you not think if we took one of the marvels of technology we possess today and showed it to a man from even a hundred years ago that he would not think it magic?"

Batreaux sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He probably shouldn't have though, as he got a pair of fingerprints on the lenses of his glasses. "You make a good point, but I really don't have time for this. I just got fired and I was wondering if you knew of any job openings nearby."

In that moment, Father Bianchi knew exactly how he would convince Batreaux of magic's existence. He pointed towards the Command Seal on Batreaux's hand. "I assume the urgency is due to your new marking? I can assure you my friend, it did not cost you a cent. Rather, it is a Command Seal, a magical marking that designates you for a higher purpose."

Batreaux's eye began to twitch. Father Bianchi sighed. He could tell the youth was ready to just walk out then and there. He reached into his pocket and took hold of a gemstone. Ever since he had learned of magecraft and the rituals surrounding it, he had decided to become a practitioner of jewel magic. Though this would likely be his final act of magecraft, he could see no better use. The priest did not remove the stone from his pocket quite yet, however.

First, he wanted to help Batreaux's financial issue, and have a bit of fun while doing it. "Let's make a friendly wager, shall we? If I can convince you magecraft is real, then I will provide you with enough money to take care of your finances for, oh let's say two months or so."

Batreaux raised an eyebrow in confusion. The offer fit with Father Bianchi's generous nature, but didn't make sense from the perspective of a man making a bet. Batreaux's grey eyes met the priest's gentle brown eyes. He couldn't even begin to tell the motivation of this.

"That doesn't make much sense, Father. What happens if you can't convince me that magic's real?"

Father Bianchi had his friend hooked. "Then I give you some money and point you towards the nearest job openings I've learned about. I trust you have no problem with this?" Now Batreaux was more confused than he was irritated, but he was also intrigued. It seemed like a win-win for him.

Batreaux nodded and smirked lightly. "Alright then. I'm not one to pass up free cash. What are going to do, light that piece of wood on fire?"

It was Father Bianchi's turn to smirk. He had the younger man right where he wanted him. "Oh no, it's much too valuable for that. Instead, I'm going to change the shape of this gem."

The priest pulled out the gemstone from his pocket and placed it on the desk in between the book and the wood. It was a magnificent crimson ruby, about the size of a thumb and cut to perfection. The candlelight of the priest's office reflected beautifully from the jewel, filling the humble room with scarlet radiance.

Father Bianchi closed his hands over the ruby and began to focus. A red light washed over the room, from both an aura of energy surrounding the gemstone and a change in the color of the flames of the candles.

A gentle wind began to radiate from the gem, and the looser clothing of the two men slowly billowed in the breeze. Sweat began to run down Father Bianchi's face. The magic was clearly taking a toll on the old man.

An expression halfway between worry and awe was on Batreaux's face as he watched the magecraft, awe due to experiencing something most people thought impossible first hand, and worry due to the clear stress his friend was under.

Eventually, the light died down and Father Bianchi sat back down in his chair, wiping sweat from his brow and coughing lightly. On the desk, the ruby had been transformed. Where once laid a beautiful gemstone now laid an equally beautiful ruby carving of a bat.

In truth, "carving" was too crude a word to describe the statuette. There were no visible imperfections anywhere. It was as if the ruby bat had been naturally grown. Batreaux's face held an expression of wonder as he gently picked up and admired the small product of magecraft, the same wonder one has as a child who's just seen a magician perform for the first time.

"All right. I believe you. Magic's real. Could you tell me more about this mark on my hand? You called it a… Command Spell or something?"

Father Bianchi smiled, but the expression held no joy, only pity. The fate dealt to his friend would not be a kind or merciful one. He would face many hardships and in the end, the price of this knowledge may even cost him his life like it had many before him.

But facing hardship is what it means to be human, so the kindly priest faced Batreaux's resolve with his own, and informed the younger man of all he would need to know.

"That mark on your right hand is known as a Command Seal. The design is different for each person who receives one, but they all have one thing in common. It brands you as a Master, and grants you the right to command a Servant in a ritual known as the Holy Grail War."

Batreaux blinked slowly. He had _several_ questions. "Okay, so this mark means I'm a Master and can order a Servant, whatever that means, but- hey wait a minute, did you say 'Holy Grail'!?"

"Indeed I did my friend. Seven pairs of Masters and Servants compete with each other in combat for the right to have a wish granted. However, the Grail in question is but a mere imitation. Being honest, I have some… concerns about that, but they are best left unsaid for now."

Batreaux leaned his head on his left hand and thought for a moment. "Yeah, it makes sense for this Grail to be a fake," he said. "If the actual cup Christ drank from at the Last Supper had been found, I'm sure it would've already been sent to the Vatican or something. So I have to fight six other people and I get a wish granted if I win? What's a Servant anyway?"

Father Bianchi knew his friend held great interest in the histories and mythologies of the world. He was sure to enjoy this next part.

"A Servant is essentially the resurrected soul of a legendary hero, summoned back to the world through a ritual performed by their Masters."

Batreaux's face lit up with a wide smile. "Legendary hero? You mean like Hercules, King Arthur or Gilgamesh? That's awesome! And you're telling me all I have to do is perform a summoning ritual and I'll have a great hero to fight for me?

The old priest nodded in affirmation, his face solemn. "Indeed. Though the ritual can only be performed by a mage, you don't have to worry about that. The simple fact you were chosen to bear a Command Seal is proof enough there is magic in your family's genealogy. Though you will be rather weak as a mage, you should still be able to complete the summoning."

Batreaux grinned and stood up in a hurry. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go summon my Servant already!"

"Be warned," Father Bianchi said suddenly, the most serious Batreaux had ever seen him. "The Holy Grail War is not to be treated as a mere game. Many masters have died in past Wars, and should you choose to participate in this one, it is very likely you will die as well. I cannot guarantee your safety."

"R-right…" Batreaux left the priest's office and sat down on one of the pews. He exhaled slowly, taking in the information he'd just received.

Magic was real. He was descended from mages. He had the right to control a legendary hero in battle. He would probably die. Obviously, it was that last bit that had him worried.

He held his right hand up out in front of him and stared at the Command Seal. In the lighting of the church, it appeared to be the color of dried blood. The image of the knight's helmet seemed to mock Batreaux, as if to tell him "You have no courage and no honor. Begone, knave."

 _Wouldn't be the first time I'd heard something like that._ Batreaux bitterly thought to himself.

.-.

A few hours later, Batreaux stood before the summoning circle he had constructed with Father Bianchi's help. After the circle was completed, the priest had excused himself to go grocery shopping, leaving Batreaux alone for the time being. He looked down at his hands.

In the left, he held the fragment of the Round Table Father Bianchi had shown him earlier. The priest had given it to him, explaining it would be the catalyst the younger man would use in his summoning.

On his right hand, the Command Seal. He had given a lot of thought to what the priest had told him just before he left, and looked back over it one more time before making his decision on how to proceed.

" _I won't blame you if you decide to turn back,"_ he'd been told. _"The Grail War has claimed many lives, some not unlike your own. Put simply, participating in a Grail War is like walking into Hell itself. If you don't want to be a part of it, you can simply give me the Command Seals and return to your normal life. No one sane would think less of you for it."_

" _But if you perform this summoning, you will have set down a path you can't return from. You will march to face your destiny. Before you make a choice, you need to ask yourself 'can I grasp it?'"_

Only he had the answer to that question. And as Batreaux placed his catalyst on the small altar he'd created for the ritual, he'd made his choice. He would not hide from his destiny.

"Can I grasp it? Of course I can. I have to." Batreaux raised his right hand towards the summoning circle and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Once he was mentally prepared, he opened his eyes and recited an incantation. Some parts of it he'd needed to memorize, others came to him as if by instinct.

" _Silver and steel are the essence._

 _Stone and the origin of pacts, the foundation."_

At that moment, an image appeared in Batreaux's mind. Thirteen chess pieces, six red opposing seven blue. The red pieces began to glow with light, as if calling him to them.

" _Red, the color of blood that burns within."_

At those words, a ring of red light began to trace around the edge of his summoning circle, originating from the four cardinal directions. When the light connected itself, the rest of the circle started to glow in the same color, emanating upwards and bathing Batreaux and the walls of the church crimson.

" _Erect a wall to block out the wind, and let the four prime gates be closed._

 _Follow the three-pronged road of the Crown, that reaches unto the Kingdom._

Batreaux's Command Seal pulsed with red energy, more vibrant and focused than that of his summoning circle. By this point the outpouring of energy from the circle had generated a wind from within, blowing back his long hair and loose jacket.

" _I hereby swear, swear your fealty to me, and my life shall be your sharpest sword._

 _I hereby swear, that I shall be all the good in this world. That I shall defeat all the evil in the world._

 _If you heed the call of the Grail, and abide by the laws, then answer my summoning!"_

The circle began to release surges of energy in time with each line of Batreaux's incantation, each with enough power for him to feel it in the deepest parts of his soul. The ground beneath him began to shake, and the ethereal wind from the circle grew more violent.

" _From the Seventh Heaven, with Three Words of Power, come forth from the ring of control, Guardian of Heavenly Scales!"_

The summoning circle exploded into a column of scarlet fire, with a great roar that sounded as if from a dragon. Fear began to creep into Batreaux's heart, but he stood firm, even as the column of fire quickly expanded outwards to cover the entirety of the room he was in. For a moment, he saw a figure appear within the flames, then they disappeared as quickly as they had started.

The figure knelt down on one knee. Clad head to toe in imposing steel armor, the figure appeared more like they belonged at a renaissance faire. The armor itself was intimidating, red marks scattered across it in a color closer to blood than the flames that brought them forth. A menacing closed-face helmet sat on the Servant's head, completely obscuring their face. The servant's head was bowed respectfully towards their new Master. Despite the demonic appearance of their horned armor, they had clearly been trained as a true and honorable knight.

Batreaux was a bit put off. For whatever reason, he couldn't see the "status screen" of his Servant like he'd been told all Masters were capable of. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He could "see" the "screen", but it was empty. Batreaux had no information on his Servant aside from the appearance of their armor.

 _Although…_ Batreaux thought, _Since I used a splinter of the Round Table for my catalyst, I was guaranteed one of its knights, right? I may have an idea who you are after all._

The mysterious Servant drew themselves up to their full height, standing straight and proud.

"Servant Saber. I have answered your call." the knight declared dramatically. Their voice sounded distorted, leaving it with a tone somewhere between that of a man and a woman.

Normally this would work to further obscure the Servants identity, but with the information Batreaux already had, it confirmed their identity to him instead.

 _Only one Knight of the Round would ever disguise themselves like that._

"Welcome, Saber! I am Batreaux Westwood, your new Master. Would you be so kind as to tell me your name?" There was a clicking sound. Batreaux noticed parts of Saber's helmet had detached, near the neck. He raised an eyebrow in interest. With a series of metallic clangs, his Servant's helmet magically split down the middle and separated into various pieces, all of which combined with the rest of the armor, though the horns of the helmet could still be seen.

A blonde ponytail unfurled and fell behind Saber's head, and Batreaux could see the intensity in their emerald eyes as they stared into his own.

He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Saber, the legendary Knight of the Round he had summoned, seemed to be a young girl no more than fifteen years of age.

Saber stabbed her sword into the floor in front of her, resting her hands on the right side of its pommel, giving Batreaux a full view of its almost impossibly beautiful silver blade.

Then, with a voice full of the pride one of her royal lineage deserved, Saber revealed her true name to her Master.

"I am Mordred, the one and true heir of Arthur Pendragon."

In response, all Batreaux could give was one simple word.

"What."

Fate/Stay Night: Dai Taisen

Episode 1: The Knight of Treachery

 **A/N: Alright, welcome to my newest fic, Fate/Stay Night: Dai Taisen. As you can see, this follows a hypothetical "fourth route" where Shirou manages to convince Caster to assist him and Saber instead of attacking them, even if said truce is very temporary. Honestly I'm surprised there wasn't more interactions between Caster and Berserker, the two knew each other in life after all.**

 **For the purposes of this story, all the Masters of Red will be oc characters. With that in mind, Saber of Red, Mordred, will be the only one from Apocrypha to retain her role. All other Servants of Red will be different characters, so look forward to who comes next! (And I look forward to your guesses.)**

 **As for the other stories I have left unfinished, I honestly don't have an excuse. I've lost interest in RWBY as of late, so Miracles of Ancient Wonder is on indefinite hiatus. Apologies. As for Polaris, I do plan to continue it soon.**

 **Please read and review, give constructive criticism, don't whizz on the electric fence, all that good stuff. Also, if you could tell me how long it took to read this chapter in your review, that'd help me out a lot. Ideally these would take about 22 minutes to read on average.**

 **Thank you all, and I will see you next time.**


	2. Holy Summons

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or any related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **A/N: Chapter 2 will still primarily be focused on Batreaux and Mordred, and will hint at one of the Servants of Red. Ch 3 will reveal some of them, then shift focus to the Blue Faction.**

 **On reviews: I am quite pleasantly surprised at the feedback this story's gotten so far. Hope I can live up to your expectations.**

 **-Yagami Kuzuki: I currently have no plans for MordredXShirou, I personally prefer ArturiaXShirou. 400PercentSync's JoJo crossover seems to heading in that direction if you're interested though. As for Apocrypha skills…. Well, Shirou might get a chance to Trace the Black Keys (rejoice) in the future.**

 **-Anthem of the Night: Personally I've always felt I don't put in enough details, but if it took you 15 minutes then I guess I'm doing fairly well with them.**

 **-Reishin Amara: I presume you were intending to add a term for a specific set of male organs at the end there yes? At any rate, you're right. Batreaux caught on to the fact he'd summoned Mordred, but he certainly wasn't expecting the Knight of Rebellion to be a cute (from his perspective) teenaged girl. It'll probably happen again when he meets the Blue Team's Saber, too.**

 **-AznPuffyHair: I'd originally wanted to use Jeanne for the Ruler role because she's my favorite saint and would give good opportunities to have Mordred assault the Ruler class or bring in Jeanne Alter, but Martha needs more attention, I agree. I'm not quite decided yet. Yeah, Shirou's definitely got more "potential" mana he can use. Kid's got a Reality Marble after all. Batreaux doesn't have enough to fully realize Mordred's potential, no. Most of her stats are weaker than they should be, and she's going to have to do stuff like eat a lot of food. He doesn't actually have enough to keep her fully manifested on his own.**

 **-Dragoon Swordsman: I do plan to have Mordred and Arturia reconcile eventually. Even before getting into the Fate series I'd thought Mordred got a worse rap than they should have, considering Camelot was apparently fated to fall anyway. Both versions of her in FGO pretty much fit what you described about her and Batreaux's relationship.**

 **I've wasted enough of your time. Let's begin.**

 **.-.**

The partnership between Batreaux Westwood and the infamous traitor Mordred Pendragon was not off to a good start. The cause of all this was the single word Batreaux uttered upon seeing his summoned Servant was in actuality a young girl.

"What."

That word had triggered all the wrong thought processes in Saber's mind, leaving the Heroic Spirit in a state that was a mixture of shock and rage. But mostly rage.

"Oi, oi, what do you mean 'what'?" Saber snarled at her Master. "You're the one who summoned me aren't you? And stop staring at me like that you idiot!"

Batreaux had instinctively taken a step back without thinking about it. _Man, she's intense. I can't believe a girl shorter than me is the infamous Mordred. I'll have to be careful when dealing with her._

"Sorry about the staring, Saber. I was just getting a look at your abilities." The ability to see a Servant's stats was one all Masters shared, but Batreaux wasn't sure if Mordred knew that or not. In that case, it may as well have been a lie. One his Servant fortunately would have bought, judging by the smug grin that crossed her face. For the moment, her rage had been placated.

"Oh really? I guess I can't be mad at you for that, Master," Saber gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, plates of her armor grinding against each other. "So, what do you think? Amazing aren't I?"

In terms of astonishing sights, everything about Mordred was amazing to Batreaux. In terms of her stats as a Servant, well, things were a bit less amazing there. Now that her helmet had been removed, Batreaux could properly see his Servant's statistics, and they were a bit underwhelming.

"Honestly, Saber? You're a bit more average than I was expecting. Most of your stats are C rank."

Mordred's rage came back in full force. Her teeth clenched and her eye began to twitch. For whatever reason, she was summoned weaker than she should have been, and she was determined to find out why.

"Oi, what the hell do you mean average!?" Mordred's armored hand grabbed Batreaux by the collar and lifted him off the ground. To an onlooker it would have quite amusing to see her lift a grown man so easily. For him it was anything but funny. Honestly he was starting to panic.

He'd summoned Saber to be his Servant, and yet here she was, effortlessly holding him in the air with one hand like _he_ was the teenager and not the other way around.

"I'm supposed to be stronger than this, so that means you must have screwed up somewhere. Tell me what you did before I bust your teeth in." Mordred's other hand pulled back and curled into a metal plated fist. A punch from her would likely do much worse than knock Batreaux's teeth out, and he could tell from the sheer anger radiating from her that she was serious.

"S-Saber, I swear I didn't do anything to you! There wouldn't be any point in it! Please, just put me down!" Saber complied, and dropped her Master down to the floor rather painfully, though it was better than being her punching bag. She didn't do so out of any sort of kindness or loyalty. She did it because she was confused.

Batreaux had said he hadn't done anything to alter her parameters, and he was telling the truth. Under normal circumstances, Mordred's Magic Resistance would've been a solid B ranking as a Saber class, enough that it was simply impossible for him to have weakened her stats magically. That left only one other explanation.

Mordred looked down at her Master intensely, emerald eyes piercing him like steel lances.

"Are you telling me you're really so weak as a magus that I've been debased just by forming a contract with you? You shouldn't have even been able to summon me in that case."

"W-well," Batreaux began, cringing lightly in pain as he stood back up. "I did have a catalyst relating to you. I guess it let me summon you anyway?"

Saber had turned away from him at the mention of a catalyst, looking towards the small altar behind the circle that had bound her to the world once more. She began to shudder lightly at the sight of the Round Table splinter.

 _Of course._ She thought. _I should've known he wouldn't have_ wanted _to summon me._

"Look, Saber. I think we got off on the wrong foot there. I'm sorry if I offended you when I reacted like that. You just aren't really what I was expec-"

Batreaux was cut off by Mordred slamming her sword down on the splinter, destroying it instantly. All that remained where it had been placed was a few pieces of stone and wood. She swung her sword back up and rested it over her shoulder.

"Good riddance." Mordred turned back towards Batreaux. Her anger was still present, but it was more subdued. If he had to guess, he'd say destroying the splinter had lightened her mood a bit. "Let me guess. You were _expecting_ to summon a proper knight, like Lancelot, Gawain, or God forbid, my _Father_."

Batreaux swallowed. He really didn't want to set Saber off again. Fortunately, it seemed she was at least willing to listen to his explanations now. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and looked her straight in the eyes before continuing. He figured at the very least, Mordred would appreciate him being honest with her.

"Not so much King Arthur, but yeah. It didn't even cross my mind that you might still be considered a Knight of the Round Table. Sorry about that."

"Don't mistake me for one of those spineless fools." Mordred's sword, the demonic blade Clarent, faded into red light as she narrowed her eyes. "I'm the only true heir to the King of Knights."

"But… you rebelled against him right?"

Mordred turned her gaze down towards the church floors and tightened her fists.

"He never saw me as anything but a tool. Neither of them did." She tried to hide it, but sadness had crept its way into her voice. From that and use of the word 'neither', Batreaux assumed Saber was also talking about her mother, the evil fairy Morgana. He said nothing about it, assuming that letting her vent would be good for both of them.

"He never appreciated my skills or anything. All that hard work at being the perfect knight, wasted." Mordred's rage had flared back up again, but at least for Batreaux it wasn't directed at him this time. For the moment she seemed more interested in yelling at the ghost of her dead father.

"Well I showed you!" she yelled, a crazed look in her eyes, mouth curled into a worse snarl than the one she'd given to her Master shortly before. It probably wasn't the best time for him to do so, but Batreaux couldn't help but notice her canine teeth seemed more like the fangs of a wolf or a lion. "In the end your reign was _worthless_!"

Mordred slammed her armored foot down on what little remained of the splinter and ground it into dust. She'd begun panting lightly, having gotten herself worked up. Batreaux just watched on in silence. The rage he'd just seen from Saber didn't feel like that of an evil tyrant. To him, Mordred seemed more like a person who'd been hurt by someone she'd trusted, and lashed out in pain. In any case, his Servant's tempestuous personality was at least interesting.

"Saber, you probably won't believe me when I say this, but I don't think you're a bad person. It's clear the legends got more wrong about you than I first thought."

Mordred raised an eyebrow at Batreaux and rested an armored hand on her hip. "The hell do you mean by that?" Even when she wasn't actively trying to be malicious or threatening, Saber's mere presence was enough to make her Master nervous. He really had no idea what he'd gotten himself into.

"W-well, it's just that all the legends described you with certain… pronouns. I didn't expect the infamous Mordred to actually be a little girl is a-"

Within an instant, Mordred had rematerialized Clarent and closed the distance between her and Batreaux. The blade's point was less than a hair's width away from his throat, demonstrating the immense skill Saber possessed. If she wanted to, she could kill him at any moment she pleased.

A burst of air accompanied the swing of her blade, blowing back Batreaux's hair and nearly throwing him off balance. If looks could kill, he'd be dead. Mordred's face held a look of absolute hatred he assumed only King Arthur had seen before.

"The next time you call me 'little girl', you lose your head, _Master._ "

Batreaux was shocked. He knew from earlier experience Masters weren't guaranteed to get along perfectly with their Servants, but Saber threatening to kill him? He was her link to the modern world, there was no way she'd go through with it, right?

But another look into his Servant's eyes told him that yes, Saber was serious. She was even willing to kill him in the middle of a church of all places!

To be killed by one's own Servant before the Grail War had even begun… was there any more pathetic death for a Master? For the sake of his own safety, Batreaux decided to back down.

"S-sorry, Saber. Won't happen again." Saber stared at him for a moment longer before deciding he was sincere. The anger on her face vanished as if it had never existed at all, and Clarent disappeared into red mist once again.

"Good." With a burst of the same red energy Clarent had dissolved into, Mordred removed her suit of imposing steel armor, the energy taking the shape of a flame as it rolled off of her body.

A body she was ironically showing off quite a bit of with her "casual" wear. It was composed near entirely of bright red leather. Long detached sleeves, a collar, a thin strip of leather covering her chest, all of it red and none of it connected to a shirt.

The only part of Mordred's outfit that wasn't red were her leggings, and even those weren't attached to any kind of pants. Instead she wore a long dark red loincloth. Though the irony of it wasn't lost on him, Batreaux was now worried about even being seen in public with her.

 _At least when Saber had the armor on there was at least the possibility of her wearing an outfit underneath that won't get her arrested…_ he thought to himself.

"Well, at the risk of being further threatened with bodily harm… I have to ask. Saber, is there anything you could do about your outfit?" Saber blinked twice and looked at Batreaux like he had two heads.

"What about my outfit?" Even when speaking normally, Saber's voice had a confrontational edge to it, like she was always seeking out a fight. "If you're concerned about my manner of dress I could put my armor back on."

Batreaux mentally facepalmed. "No, Saber, that might actually be worse. Either one of your outfits might end up with the cops trying to arrest you." It didn't take a genius to play out that scenario in their mind. While Mordred would certainly win any altercations with the police should the situation come to that, it would nevertheless be much more trouble than Batreaux needed.

"It's gotten pretty dark outside, Master." Saber spoke up, now reclining herself on one of the pews. Batreaux hadn't noticed due to all the… excitement caused by the summoning of his Servant, but the sun appeared to have set recently. Checking his watch, Batreaux found the time to be roughly eight thirty pm.

 _Strange,_ he thought. _Father Bianchi should have returned by now._

Due to interacting with his Servant and the act of summoning her that was his first use of magecraft, Batreaux was just about ready to drop dead any second. The faster he and Saber got back to his apartment, the better. He decided it best to wrap things up here.

"Well Saber," he said, as she sat up to look at him in response, "I can't say meeting you was the most pleasant or least painful thing I've ever done, but one thing's for sure." He reached out his hand towards Saber, who had decided to walk over to him.

"You're a hell of a lot more interesting than the rest of the Round Table Knights. Glad to have you on my side, Mordred."

"Alright! Let's do this thing, Master!" Mordred grinned and smacked his hand like they were doing a high five instead of shaking it. Batreaux was thankful she hadn't actually punched him earlier. Just that relatively gentle slap had stung like a hornet's nest or spoiled pineapple.

Mordred cracked her knuckles and looked up at him excitedly. "So, where's the enemy?" Batreaux was started to get a bit worried about her now. Of course, it was good Mordred was willing to fight off their enemies, but the girl seemed to have an almost berserker-like zeal for combat.

He chuckled nervously. "Calm down there Saber. None of the other Masters or Servants have shown themselves yet." Mordred's excited grin turned into a frown.

"Oh… So what's our next move then?"

Batreaux yawned. "We go home. I don't know about you, but I need some sleep. We can start making plans tomorrow." He pulled off his jacket and tossed it over to Saber, who caught it effortlessly. "It's night, so if you put that on we shouldn't have to worry about the cops for now. You like red, right?"

Saber nodded as she put on the jacket. It wasn't leather like she would have hoped, but it would do for now. "Yeah. Thanks, Master." Mentally, she was glad her Master hadn't asked her to take spiritual form.

"Alright, let's get going then." Batreaux stopped to pick up the book on the basic workings of Thaumaturgy he'd been studying before deciding to summon Saber. He figured Father Bianchi wouldn't mind him borrowing it for a while, considering the future that lay ahead of him.

 _I hope the old man's alright._

Pushing open the doors of the church, Batreaux Westwood and Mordred Pendragon stepped out into the cold night air, unaware of the small familiar that had been observing them.

.-.

The short walk back to Batreaux's apartment was rather uneventful, leaving Mordred to sink further into her boredom. She'd nearly gotten to have some fun when a drunk off the streets tried to hit on her, but unfortunately for Saber her Master managed to diffuse the situation before she put anyone in the hospital.

He'd managed to work out a simple hypnosis spell from what he'd learned in his borrowed textbook, and it turned out to be quite effective against a pre-inebriated mind.

That second use of magic had nearly drained all of Batreaux's remaining mana, and Saber was beginning to get suspicious of her Master's abilities. On some level it made sense that summoning a Heroic Spirit as powerful as her would take a lot out of a magus, and maintaining her would require a large amount of mana.

But after he'd cast that hypnosis spell, Mordred felt the mana she was receiving through their spiritual link slow to a drip. Though she didn't want to believe it, Saber had an idea that her summoning was the first magic her Master had ever performed. It would certainly explain her being weakened.

"Aww, crap." Batreaux's sudden voice drew her out of her thoughts, and she stopped beside him. She followed his eyes to where an old, busted pick-up truck was parked. She tensed herself, mentally preparing for a fight.

"That truck belong to someone who's been giving you trouble, Master?" Sleep deprived as he was, Batreaux noticed some of the same excitement from earlier in his Servant's voice. That realization managed to wake him up a bit.

"Woah, no no no no, nothing like that, Saber." He waved his arms in front of him rapidly, trying to dissuade her from attacking. "That's my roommate's truck. I forgot she got off work early tonight." Mordred relaxed, yet again disappointed she wouldn't get to fight.

"Oh. And this is a problem why?"

"She's not a magus, Saber. If I just showed up in the middle of the night with a half-naked girl, she'd think I'd been off doing something perverted." Mordred's face tinged slightly red at that.

"Servants are basically high-class familiars, right? Do you think you could take spirit form, at least until I come up with a good excuse?"

Mordred firmly crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks. "I refuse. I can't think straight if I don't have my feet firmly on the ground." Batreaux sighed. His Servant really was a handful.

"Alright then. I don't want to make you too uncomfortable. I'll just have to think of an excuse now then." With that, Batreaux opened the door to his apartment and he and Mordred stepped inside. "Yo Elise, I'm home!"

The first thing Mordred noticed was that none of the lights were on. Instead the rooms were being lit by candles. Though she was used to candlelight from her time in Camelot, the knowledge she'd gained from the Grail told her electric lights were nearly everywhere in the modern age.

That said, it didn't seem too bad to her. All things considered the apartment seemed decent enough, at least as far as the living room and kitchen went. It was no castle, sure, but in some ways it was better due to the march of technology.

The second thing she noticed was the young woman sitting on the living room couch smirking smugly at her. The woman had short brown hair and eyes as grey as stormclouds that nicely complemented her fair complexion. Mordred assumed this was her Master's roommate, Elise.

Elise put down the book she'd been reading as she stood up and quickly hid her hands behind her back. Mordred almost thought she'd seen a bit of red on Elise's right hand, and noticed the air seemed… charged, somewhat.

 _Could she be one of the other six Masters?_ she thought. _Master said she wasn't a magus, but…_

"Hey, Bat, welcome home!" Elise said warmly. Then, she looked her roommate straight in the eye and smirked. "I see you finally got yourself a girlfriend~."

As if on cue, both Master and Servant staggered and flushed bright red. It took all of Mordred's willpower to not strangle Elise then and there.

"Gi-girlfriend?"

"Mmm-hmm~. You know, I always knew you were into blondes, Bat." Elise put on a look of fake confusion before continuing. "But I thought you liked your women a bit… curvier? And older?"

If embarrassment were physical, Batreaux would've been buried in a mountain of it. Mordred would have been in a similar situation, but with anger instead. As it were, she was about to snap.

Fortunately for Elise, Batreaux had managed to come up with an excuse just before Mordred lost it.

"S-she's not my girlfriend, Elise. She's my little sister, Mooooorrrr….gan. Morgan. Yep."

Mordred made a mental note to punch her Master later. Even if it was for the sake of keeping their cover, making her use her _despicable_ witch of a mother's name was a step too far.

"Morgan, huh. So where've you been keeping this sister of yours all these years, Bat?"

"She's been studying abroad in England. Our parents thought it would be good for us to spend some time together while she's on vacation."

"Uh-huh. So how long is she staying here then?"

"About two weeks or so."

Elise didn't believe that story for a second. It all seemed too convenient to her. But, she had no proof her roommate was lying, and hey, it wasn't her job to police his… interests. She decided to play along for now.

"Uh-huh. Okay, so. I'm gonna run down to the store real quick. I've already made dinner, leftovers are in the fridge, and you look like hell, so I assume you'll be asleep when I get back." Elise walked over to the key rack they kept to pick up her keys and unlocked the door.

"Nice to meet you, Morgan!"

The door shut and locked behind Elise. Master and Servant hesitated a while longer to make sure she was gone. Then Mordred slugged her Master in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for, Saber?!" If her gentle slap stung like a hornet's nest, her actual punch felt like being hit with a metal baseball bat.

"That's for making me use my mother's name, you idiot! What the hell were you thinking?! And that roommate of yours, the hell's her problem?"

Batreaux winced and rubbed his pained arm. "Right, right. Sorry about the name thing, I kinda panicked. Elise is great when you get to know her, I swear."

 _That was strange,_ he thought. _It isn't like Elise to hurry off like that._

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna go to sleep now. Do you want to use my bed or the couch?" he said, pulling a plastic water bottle out from the kitchen cabinet.

Mordred smirked, having found another way to get back at her Master. "Eh? Isn't your bed big enough for both of us, Master?"

Batreaux nearly choked on the water he was drinking. "N-no it isn't Saber! Even if it was we don't nearly know each other well enough for that! Besides, Elise thinks you're my sister, remember? I _really_ don't need her thinking anything weird about us."

Saber laughed gleefully at her Master's suffering. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. I'll take the bed, thanks." Batreaux narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a moment.

"Down the hall, second door on the left." Batreaux yawned again. "Jeez, I need some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, Mordred." Batreaux laid down onto the couch and near instantly fell asleep.

"Oh, wait! Mast-" was all he heard before he left the conscious world for Dreamland. Mordred shrugged and turned to find her Master's room. "Ah well. I'll tell him tomorrow." She couldn't shake the feeling she'd felt when Elise had meet her gaze. There had been another Servant in the room. She knew it.

.-.

After making sure she was a good distance away from the apartment, Elise looked around to make sure nobody else was in the area. She didn't let on to it while around Batreaux and his "sister", but she'd noticed the marking on his right hand. A Command Seal. Elise knew what it was, as she had one of her own.

While Batreaux's was shaped like a knight's helmet, hers took the shape of three parallel lines. Elise sighed. She had really hoped her friend wouldn't be drawn into the Holy Grail War. But the facts were undeniable. They both had Command Seals. That meant at some point in the near future, they would be forced to fight each other. Only one wish could be granted.

 _So you noticed it too then, milady?_ The voice of her Servant sounded inside her mind, clear as day. _I believe you do not need to worry about him. He has a strong, just heart. As you do._

 _I know he's strong enough to handle this,_ she responded. _I'm worried about when we have to fight each other. I'm worried about you. You saw that girl he called his sister right? She was definitely his Servant. And she's strong._

 _The girl does indeed appear formidable, milady. But have no fear. So long as your wish remains just, I shall be your shield. My powers are greatest when on defense. Our enemies may be strong, but I shall prevail._

Elise was silent, simply staring at her Command Seal. A cold wind whipped across her face. In the face of her cruel destiny, however, it was nothing. Elise steeled her heart and mind.

Secretly, she hoped Batreaux would die long before they had to fight each other. She couldn't bear the thought of killing her best friend, but she would if she had to.

To make a better world… She would kill whoever she had to.

 _Thank you, Rider. I'll be relying on you from now on._

 _Of course, milady. I am yours to command._

… _.Rider, there's something I need you to do for me._

.-.

Batreaux awoke the next morning barely feeling any better than when he'd gone to sleep. The feeling was mostly physical, however, due to the poor position he had slept in. Though it was his own fault for offering Saber first pick of sleeping areas, so he couldn't complain too much.

His mental exhaustion had been relieved only slightly. Though he had recovered some of his mana, it wasn't much compared to what he'd used to summon Saber the night before. If he had to guess, he'd say it was roughly twenty percent.

His dreams hadn't helped with that. It wasn't that he had a dreamless night, he was used to that. And when he did have dreams, they were never frightening. Strangely enough, Batreaux had never had a nightmare in his life.

But his dreams had never come in pieces before.

He was alone in a decrepit, abandoned castle.

He was in the same castle, standing before a tall, thin woman with pale hair and her face obscured.

He was facing down a group of monsters.

He was standing alongside a group of what appeared to be knights.

He was bleeding out on a hill, surrounded by corpses as he stared up at the sky.

Needless to say, he was unnerved. Batreaux rubbed his eyes to clear out the morning gunk, yawning as he sat up and put his glasses back on. He took a moment to crack his joints, then looked over to the table, where he saw Mordred was already awake and eating some cereal.

"Good morning, Saber." He noticed she'd taken the liberty of putting on some of his clothes, sweatpants and an old tee shirt. Both of them red, obviously. He could only pray she hadn't put on his underwear too.

"Morning, Master," she responded through a mouthful of chocolate. "You sleep well? I survive off your mana, you know. So it's important you're as rested as possible."

"Ehhh, not too well, I'm afraid. I kept having these… pieces of weird dreams." Batreaux had moved behind Mordred and into the kitchen to set a pot of coffee. "What about you? You have any weird dreams? Do you even need to sleep?"

Mordred put down her spoon and stared at him. "Seriously? The first night after you summon me and you start having 'weird dreams'? Hah! Modern magi sure are sensitive." Batreaux narrowed his eyes and stared right back at his Servant. Clearly he was not in the mood for a jape.

"But to answer your questions, no, I didn't have any weird dreams, and no, I don't _need_ sleep. But," she paused to take another bite of her breakfast, "It does lower my mana usage. And food recharges me a bit."

"Ah." He supposed it made sense. Even if she was technically dead, Saber did currently possess a 'living' form. It was only logical she could gain energy from eating. It was also a plus for him, as it meant he wouldn't need to use as much mana maintaining her.

"Hey Saber. You know where Elise is?"

"Yeah," she said through another mouthful of cereal. "Said to tell you she was going to work early today, since you don't have a job anymore." Wait. Batreaux hadn't told Elise about him being fired. He didn't get a chance to.

"How did she know about that?"

Saber merely shrugged in response. Apparently she didn't have an explanation either. The blonde swordswoman lightly swallowed before draining her bowl of milk, which had turned brown thanks to chocolate from the cereal leaching into it.

"So, Master. What are we doing today?"

Thanks to his coffee, Batreaux had woken up completely. Personally he hated the taste of it, but sometimes he needed a little extra to get up in the morning. And the day after summoning the spirit of an ancient hero(?) was certainly one of those mornings. Now that he was fully awake, he was able to put together a rough day plan in his mind. He and Saber would work out the details as they went.

"Well Saber, I was going to exercise for a bit, then I thought we'd play some video games for a while before working on our battle plan." He noticed a smile appear on his Servant's face when he'd mentioned video games. Clearly she was curious about trying them for herself. He was honestly a bit surprised she hadn't been playing one already when he woke up. Then again, he supposed someone from the middle ages wouldn't really know how electricity works to begin with.

It seemed like Mordred was about to say something, but at that moment Batreaux's phone began to ring. The blond checked the caller id to find it was Father Bianchi, and quickly answered.

"Father! Are you alright? I got kinda worried when you didn't get back to the church before dark."

 _ **Oh yes, I'm quite fine. I was simply catching up with an old friend of mine and lost track of time. I noticed you've taken the book on Thaumaturgy with you. Does this mean…**_

"Yeah, it does. I'm officially part of the Holy Grail War now. I summoned a Saber class for my Servant. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I think I've got a pretty good shot at winning this thing." Batreaux and Mordred grinned, sharing each other's confidence.

The priest's mirthful laughter came through from the other end of the line. _**Oh, I don't doubt it my friend. But, that said, would you mind coming back by the church today, as soon as you can? There's something important I need to tell you, and it's best done in person.**_

Batreaux narrowed his eyes slightly at that. Whatever the old man wanted to tell him, it was doubtless about the Grail War. Perhaps there were other rules he needed to learn about? At any rate, any matter relating to the Grail War was not to be taken lightly.

"Of course, Father. I'll be there in about an hour."

 _ **Ah, good, good. And bring your Servant with you, if you don't mind. They need to hear this too.**_

"….I see. Goodbye." Batreaux hung up on the call and looked over to Saber, who was staring at him again.

"So, what was that about, Master?" she asked, folding her arms behind her neck and resting her feet on the table.

"Better get dressed, Saber, we're going to have to leave sooner than I expected." Inwardly, Batreaux was worried, and Saber was excited.

"Where are we going? For you to abandon the day's plans like that, this must be important, huh." Batreaux had headed down the hall to brush his teeth and get ready to leave, Saber following in order to get back to the room she was borrowing.

Batreaux grinned at her. "We're going to confess to our good priest of course." This time Saber was the one left who could only give one word.

"What?"

.-.

Within the darkness of the Greater Grail, Avenger laughed triumphantly. The summonings of the Red Faction couldn't have turned out better. He'd had his doubts when Saber hadn't been summoned yet, but upon seeing who had been chosen, he was convinced. His plan was perfect.

Now all that was left for him to do was to summon the Ruler. He'd quickly ruled out (no pun intended) Holmes and Amakusa. Either of them would cause him no end of trouble. Leaving him with two choices. One of the holy women would win a temporary pass back to life, as his unwitting pawn.

 **Fate/Stay Night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 2: Holy Summons**

 **A/N: This chapter was supposed to have about another thousand words on it originally, but I decided to cut them off and add them to the next one. I felt having a parallel to the first chapter made for a better ending point.**

 **Standard requests apply, leave your questions, comments, concerns, and reading time in a review, and I will see you all next time.**


	3. Servants Of Red

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or any related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **A/N: Sorry for any delays on this one. This story doesn't have a set schedule to it, but I would like to keep an even pace between updates if possible. I unfortunately still have to deal with college work, however.**

 **On reviews:**

 **-Anthem of the Night: Don't worry if you didn't figure out who Rider of Red is here, their identity is about to be revealed. Batreaux's lucky to have gotten through meeting Mordred as easily as he did, but sometimes you just can't help but talk, right?**

 **-AznPuffyHair: It's a little of both, really. I probably could've explained it better, but Waver's supposed to be the one who wrote that book in the first place, which helps explain our protagonist's progress. He does have some hidden talents yet to be revealed of his own.**

 **-Lelouch of Zero: Glad to hear you like how Batreaux and Mordred work with each other. They are going to be the main focus for a lot of the story, so it's important their relationship is at least decently engaging.**

 **Alright then, let's begin.**

 **.-.**

"Okay seriously, Master, what are we doing right now?" Mordred asked her companion as they traveled down the sidewalk. She was a bit annoyed at the joking non-answer he'd given her back at the apartment before they'd left, and he didn't really give her a lot of time to get ready either.

In the end she settled on keeping the tee shirt on and wearing Batreaux's jacket over it. She'd also decided to put on some actual pants to his relief, and took a pair of his sandals. The jeans were old and torn in one knee, but overall he thought the look suited her.

"We're going to the church to talk with the priest." Batreaux responded, enjoying the cool morning air. If he hadn't gotten the call from Father Bianchi he would've been taking a jog with Mordred instead, the Heroic Spirit likely demolishing his abilities and confidence in the process.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why are we going to talk to this priest?"

The two travelers paused as they came to a crosswalk and Batreaux looked around for oncoming vehicles. Both Master and Servant found it a bit strange that they hadn't noticed a single person, on foot or otherwise, since they'd left the apartment. The apartment complex was rather close to the edge of town, but usually there was at least one person around at all times.

Batreaux dismissed it as everyone sleeping in on the weekend, but Saber wasn't as easily convinced. It was faint, but she detected traces of mana in the area. Someone had been performing Magecraft nearby.

"Because he's my friend, and he wanted to talk to me. Aside from that, he's also the one who gave me that splinter of the Round Table I used to summon you and told me about the Grail War to begin with."

Mordred's mood soured a bit at being reminded of what her Master used to summon her. Then she thought back over it a bit and compared Batreaux's last statement to her Grail-given knowledge of how the War was to be conducted. Her eyes widened slightly in realization.

"Wait, this priest is the one who gave you that catalyst? Master, you realize that means the War's overseer technically offered help to one of the participants? That's against the rules."

Batreaux raised his eyebrows and grinned at his companion. "Hey, as far as I'm concerned I didn't become a participant until after I summoned you. But wow, who would've thought the fearsome rebel Mordred Pendragon would be worried about a little rulebreaking?"

"Don't give me that shit. You know I only care about getting the Grail. But the rules for this kind of thing are really serious." Saber got up close to her Master and pointed her finger in his face. Despite being shorter, she clearly held the more intimidating form. "You don't want me getting into fights with people needlessly, I don't want you being an idiot and getting the other Masters pissed off at us needlessly."

Batreaux held up his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright. I won't break any more rules if you don't want me to." He took another look around the intersection and noticed that even still, no one had approached the stoplights. It was beginning to unnerve him a little. "Anyway, let's get a move on. I don't want to keep Father Bianchi waiting any more than I have too."

Mordred gave a little huff, but otherwise accepted her Master's answer and they continued on. After a few more minutes of walking they entered the local park. It was fairly nice, with a lake in the center and a dirt sidewalk encircling the area, surrounded by lush greenery and dotted with benches. Cutting through the park by using the bridge over the lake would save them some time.

Mordred breathed in the fresh air, the scenery reminding her of happier times. Her wistful look soon faded once she and Batreaux made it further in to the park and they came across a man sitting on one of the park benches. The first person they'd seen all day since leaving. That in itself was suspicious to her, but her Master seemed oblivious to that fact as the man closed his book and walked over to them.

Saber tensed up as she noticed the man's aura. Appearance wise he was unassuming enough, dressed in a manner one would expect from a normal civilian. His long brown hair flowed freely in the breeze, and he smiled affably as he waved one hand. Saber narrowed her eyes. This man was giving off the same energy she'd detected in Batreaux's apartment.

The energy of a Servant. She warned Batreaux through their mental link.

 _Be careful Master. This man feels like another Servant._

 _Got it. Thanks Saber._

"Excuse me, sir and madam, but I was wondering if you could give me directions? I'm new to this town you see, and I was hoping to put in some volunteer work at the local church."

"Well, my sister and I were headed our way there right now. If you want you're welcome to tag along."

"I would appreciate that very much sir." The two men shook hands as they nodded to each other. Both of them looked down at where their hands were conjoined. If Batreaux had been paying more attention, he might've noticed the nearly imperceptible frown that crossed the stranger's face on sight of Batreaux's Command Seal.

Mordred however, noticed what her Master did not. Her eyes narrowed the same miniscule amount as the man's frown.

"Might I know your name, good sir?" Mordred's frown grew deeper upon hearing this. She knew she shouldn't, but she had a sneaking suspicion Batreaux would hand out his identity then and there. Of course it wouldn't matter much in the long run, as the man had already seen his face and Command Seal, but every bit of protection they had helped.

"My name's Bartholomew, and this is my younger sister Morgan." Batreaux felt his Servant relax a bit through their mental link. _Don't worry Saber,_ he assured her. _I'm not_ that _stupid._

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I must say, Bartholomew, that is a rather intriguing tattoo you have there."

Batreaux and Saber 'glanced' at each other mentally. Under normal circumstances the question would be completely innocuous, but the pair were in anything but a normal situation. The stranger's verbal acknowledgement of Batreaux's Command Seal only cemented their suspicions. At the very least he was working with one of the other Masters.

"Yes, a friend of mine has a similar marking on her right hand as well," The man said, taking a few steps away from the others. Saber visualized Clarent in her mind as she prepared herself mentally for battle, the first step in 'drawing' her blade. She placed her right hand into her jean's pocket to hide the red energy forming around it.

Batreaux followed Saber's lead and also placed his right hand into a pocket, his being on the spare jacket he'd put on before they left. This one was blue, and unfortunately of a thinner material than the one he'd loaned Saber. Fortunately, it was still capable of concealing the item he was reaching for.

 **.-.**

" _What the hell are you doing, Master?" Saber asked, watching Batreaux reach down to the ground and scoop up a handful of dirt and place it in a bag. She noticed he also had another bag with him that appeared to be filled with sand._

" _Gathering some supplies," he replied simply. "I'm nowhere near as strong as you are Saber. That said, I'd like to contribute what I can and offer you support in battle, little as it is."_

" _So what, are you going to use that dirt to cast some kind of Magecraft?" She leaned down next to her Master to get a closer look._

 _Batreaux grinned. "Nope. This is for an ancient technique passed down through legends here in Texas, devised by the great Rusty Shackleford. You don't mind fighting dirty, do you?"_

" _Heh. Hell no. When it comes to battle, winner takes all and anything goes. I like the way you think, Master."_

 **.-.**

 _Hopefully I won't have to use this yet. Until I get more practice with Magecraft in this is all I have to support Saber with._

"Say, would you mind my asking if you've read any good books lately?"

Batreaux couldn't tell what this stranger was thinking. He thought the man was working with another Master after mentioning his Command Seal, but after that question he started to think maybe it was just a coincidence. He loosened his grip on the bag of sand in his pocket, but did not remove his hand.

"I haven't read much lately, but when I was a kid my favorite story was _La Morte d'Arthur._ "

"Ah, an excellent choice. I find the tales of Arthur's heroism most inspiring. Though that also makes his end all the more tragic."

Saber's eye had begun to twitch and her anger was rising. This stranger praising her father so openly like that, who the hell did he think he was? She was about ready to fly off the handle and slice the fool's head clean off, but her Master noticed just in time to try and reign her in.

 _Hold on a minute Saber. He has no way of knowing that would've upset you. Besides, if you show a reaction to that it'll give away your identity. If he's really an enemy you can let loose. If he's not then just punch me again or something._

That surprised Saber just enough for her to decide not to kill the stranger. _Master's really willing to let me take my anger out on him like that?_

Her attention was caught again when she noticed the brown-haired man had spoken again.

"Personally, I've recently grown fond of a book called _Of Mice and Men_. The ending is rather tragic. Two men, the best of friends. They nearly have everything in place to begin a new life, but one is forced to kill the other to spare him greater torment."

The air surrounding the three had grown still, and neither Batreaux nor Mordred could hear insects or birds anymore. Mordred narrowed her eyes.

"That mark on your hand, Bartholomew. It is a Command Seal, is it not?" Batreaux's eyes widened and he took a step back. Mordred instead took a step forward and drew her blade as the red, fiery energy washed over her body, materializing her armor and helmet.

"I told you this guy was trouble, Master!"

The strange man frowned and sighed. "I see you are the Master of Saber in this war. Very well then."

With a great flash of light, the man was now clad in shining peach colored armor and a great white cape. The two garments were worn in a manner that the cape also formed a cloak around the man's body, tucked under his armor on the right side. The greaves he wore on his feet appeared to be modeled after the claws of a dragon, and a pauldron modeled after a dragon's head guarded his right shoulder.

On his right forearm was a gauntlet large enough to be used as a shield in its own right, and his right hand held a black sword. The outer edges of the sword were silver, and instead of a point the blade had a diagonal cut across it at the end. From behind the man's pauldron, several red satin ribbons flowed freely in the wind generated by his armor's appearance, as did his hair.

Aside from the draconic influences in his armor, the man was the very image of a knight in shining armor.

"I had hoped to avoid fighting if possible, but it appears we have no choice but to duel, Saber. I am Georgios, the Rider class Servant of this Grail War. Whomever you may be, I hope we may conduct our battle in a manner fitting of two noble knights."

Mordred scoffed and readied her blade. "'Noble knight?' Don't make me laugh, Rider. I am not one of the chivalrous fools you're used to dealing with. As far as I care, your honor can go straight to hell!"

With a burst of red electricity from around her armored feet, Mordred leapt forward and swung her blade down at Rider's neck with surprising savagery. Rider's serious expression did not change a bit as he quickly brought up his own sword to counter. The force of Mordred's inhuman strength pushed him back slightly, but aside from that he did not budge.

Beneath her helmet, Saber grinned. She was finally going to have a good fight since being summoned, and she had an idea her Master wouldn't want to stop this one.

Speaking of her Master, Batreaux could only look on in shock as his Servant engaged Rider in combat, a frenzy of devastating blows released from her. Even her fighting style was closer to that of a Berserker. Though she was clearly skilled with a blade, Saber seemed to prefer swinging Clarent around wildly and gravity do the work for her.

He was finally able to see his Servant in action, and the weight of her earlier threats finally sunk in. Saber was so far beyond anything he had ever seen before, he realized just how much of an idiot he'd been to think he could have potentially fought back if he needed to defend himself from her.

And Rider was just as amazing. For all of Saber's ferocity, and even the few punches and kicks she'd mixed into her assault, Rider hadn't been hit once, deftly blocking or avoiding every blow that came his way.

"Ho-holy shit… That's Saint George!" Batreaux realized the implications of the man's name.

Georgios.

A saint of the Catholic Church said to have slain a dragon with a single throw of a spear, magic sword Ascalon in hand.

It hadn't registered at first, but Batreaux subconsciously realized he and Saber had technically just _assaulted a saint_. He wasn't the kind of man who goes to church every Sunday or anything, but he knew just how bad that had to be for his soul. Then again, Rider had come here to fight in the first place so maybe it was okay then?

He didn't have time to further ponder the ethical implications of his situation as Saber blew past him and crashed into a tree, which split down the middle on impact.

"Saber! Are you alright?" He yelled, running over towards where his Servant had fallen in an attempt to help her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, swatting away his hand and propping herself up with Clarent's hilt. "This Rider's a tougher opponent than I expected is all. This's a pretty good fight, Master!"

"Well, be careful, Saber. Saint George is famous for killing a dragon with just one hit."

 _With just one strike? Rider killed one of the strongest Phantasmal Beasts that easily? So that explains why I'm feeling weaker. That sword of his must be some kind of Anti-Dragon Noble Phantasm, and it's negating the power of my dragon blood. Crap, this'll be bad if I don't finish this soon…_

Stabbing Clarent into the grassy ground for a moment, Saber broke two branches off of the tree she'd collided with and threw them at Rider. The holy knight held his ground and deflected one off his gauntlet, then cut the other out of the air with Ascalon. A glowing light surrounded his blade, then shot forwards like a thrown spear. Saber backhanded the attack as it approached and it exploded harmlessly on a rock.

Thanks to Mordred's helmet, Batreaux was currently unable to see her stats, so he couldn't tell she'd gotten weaker since the fight began. As she rushed back into battle, he was trying to work out how she seemed to be losing so badly.

Out of Rider's key combat stats, only Endurance was higher than what Batreaux knew Saber's to be, at a staggering A+. Rider clearly had the advantage in a protracted fight, though that didn't explain how easily he was blocking and avoiding Mordred's attacks. Their Agility was about equal, but his Strength was a full rank lower at D.

 _His Luck's also A+, could that be it?_

Back at the fight between Saber and Rider, their battle had moved onto the bridge dividing the lake, sparks flying and the sound of grinding steel echoing across the sky. To Saber's credit, she'd managed to land several blows to Rider's armor, denting and cutting it in several places, as well as nearly shredding most of his cape. Rider's movements had slown down slightly and lost some of their sharpness, but not nearly to the same extent as hers had.

Still well above what her Master was capable of, her movements were downright sluggish by the standards of Heroic Spirts. Try as she might to put her same furious power behind her strikes, Saber was simply too tired. After a mistimed thrust and a dodge by Rider, Saber found herself falling off the bridge and plummeting into the lake.

"Shit!" Saber's impact with the water forced up a larger burst of water into the air and even formed a light rain for a moment. Though her armor was magical, it wasn't waterproof, so Saber quickly burst back out of the lake with another loud splash before she drowned, landing right back on the bridge across from Rider.

Saber dematerialized her armor, letting the red fire roll over her. Fortunately, the clothes she'd borrowed from Batreaux weren't wet in the slightest. Saber stopped having fun with the fight about forty slashes ago, and falling into the water had just angered her further.

Saber's rage showed plainly on her face, and her breathing was heavy. _Damn it!_ She thought. _If it weren't for that damned Noble Phantasm of his, I would've skewered Rider about twenty times by now! I didn't want to use this yet, but it looks like I'll have to use my own Noble Phantasm to finish him off._

Saber needed to remove her helmet in the first place to use Clarent's full power, but it seemed Rider hadn't recognized her yet, though he'd surely figured out 'Morgan' was a fake name. She had to make sure her Noble Phantasm killed him or her identity would be revealed.

"Heh, you've put up one hell of a fight Rider, but I'm afraid this is where you die!" Saber held Clarent in front of her, point facing the sky, and began to focus.

…Only to find out she didn't have enough mana left to power her Noble Phantasm. She couldn't even get enough from Batreaux for it!

 _W-what the hell? What kind of Master can't even provide enough mana for his Servant's Noble Phantasm?! That damn third-rate magus!_

"You've fought well, Saber, but we must conclude our match here for now. I look forward to fighting you again someday." With another burst of light Rider's armor disappeared along with Ascalon, leaving him back in his civilian disguise.

"What, you're running away now, Rider? I'm not through with you yet!"

Rider shook his head. "Not running away, no. My Master sent me here to test your abilities, and she believes I have accomplished that task. I am returning to her now." With that, Rider shifted into spirit form, a mist of blue energy accompanying his disappearance. _Farewell._

Clarent faded into red light as Saber fell over onto her knees and caught her breath.

 _Testing my abilities? What the hell…_ Her right hand clenched into a fist and she drove a hole into the bridge with it. Though she hated to admit it, she'd lost this fight. The first fight of the Grail War, and she'd lost.

Saber wasn't sure who to curse more at the moment; Rider, for making a fool of her, herself, for losing to someone that wasn't her father, or her Master for not being able to provide enough mana to her.

Unfortunately for Batreaux, he'd caught up to her at that moment, just in time to catch her fist across the side of his face.

"OW! Jesus Christ, Saber, the hell is wrong with you!? I come over here to see if you're okay and you _punch_ me?!" Batreaux pulled himself up from where he'd fallen, dirt and grass staining his clothes.

" _That's_ for being such a shitty third-rate magus!" Saber countered. "Besides, you said I could punch you earlier! What kind of Master can't even provide enough energy for his Servant to use their Noble Phantasm?"

"Their what? What's a Noble Phantasm?" Batreaux asked, holding a hand where Saber's fist connected with his jaw.

"You don't even know what a Noble Phantasm is? I knew it! You're just a beginner, aren't you Batreaux? Of all the God-damned luck, how'd I get stuck with someone who doesn't even know basic terminology?"

 _Well, it's true I gave her permission to punch me, but…_ "Hey, it's not like I was trying to summon you specifically, _Mordred._ And when did you start calling me by my real name?"

It wasn't like he'd ever told Saber not to call him by his real name or anything. But so far, she'd only referred to him as Master. To suddenly stop like that, she had to be really mad at him.

"When you proved yourself inadequate for the task of commanding me." Saber huffed loudly and turned away from him. "Anyway, I'm tired, angry, and hungry, so let's go meet this stupid priest of yours and go home already. I've wasted enough mana for one day and you clearly can't give me enough of yours." Saber began walking across the rest of the bridge, and Batreaux hesitated a moment before following.

 _Damn it,_ he thought. _She's right. This is my fault. Mana is everything to a Servant. Because of my own incompetence, she couldn't use her Noble Phantasm, which I'm guessing means super attack or something. Saber's barely getting any mana from me as it is. If Rider hadn't broken off the fight when he did, she could've died._ Batreaux's fists clenched and he ground his teeth together. _And I would've been powerless to save her._

"Oi, Batreaux. Hurry up, or I'll just go home without you." Saber called back at him, staring over her shoulder with a derisive glare. His eyes widened and eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Wha- really?"

Saber scoffed at him. "Naturally. You might be my 'Master', but it's clear that from now on, I'm the one in charge. Got a problem with that?"

Batreaux just sighed and hung his head. In less than a day, he'd managed to lose any respect Saber may have had for him. And even as tired as she was, he had no chance of beating her in a fight. He briefly considered casting a Command Spell, but decided against it. If he wasted one of his three absolute orders on something like this, then Mordred would never respect him again.

 _Well, there's a sentence I never expected to think before._ "No… No problem." Mordred continued to stare at him until he caught up, and the two continued on towards the church where Father Bianchi awaited them.

 _Tch. Spineless…_ Saber thought to herself. While it was good Batreaux realized his shortcomings, she felt…. disappointed by how quick he was to defer to her. She may have been royalty, but that meant nothing in this land or time period. She supposed she'd see how things played out with him for now. If he actually manned up and grew a spine in the future, she might actually start enjoying their time together.

 **.-.**

About fifteen minutes later, Batreaux and Saber came up to the church where they had met the night before. The building was still the calming, serene place Batreaux knew it as, but Saber was less enthusiastic about being there. She stopped and sat down on the steps leading up to the door.

Batreaux looked back at her. "Hey, Saber," he called to her. "Aren't you coming in?"

"Nah. I don't even want to be here in the first place remember? Hurry up and finish your business so we can go home already."

Batreaux sighed and turned back to the door. "Alright, but Father Bianchi said you needed to hear what he has to say too. It's probably really important."

Saber rolled her eyes and reequipped her armor and helmet as she stood up and walked over to the door. "Fine," she said, "But I'm leaving the talking to you. I'm good at litigation, but not diplomacy."

Batreaux pushed open the doors of the church, and the two stepped inside. The building was physically just as it was when they'd left the previous night, but the atmosphere was different. Saber could feel the same pressure she had from Batreaux's apartment and when they'd encountered Rider, only stronger this time.

 _Be on guard,_ she told Batreaux telepathically. _I think there's more than one Servant here._ Her tone had been slightly different this time. Before she'd spoken like a knight would to their sworn lord. Now she spoke the way a lord would to their vassals.

"So, where's this priest friend of yours?" she asked.

"If he's not in the main building, then he's probably in the courtyard through that door back there." Batreaux pointed to an oak door on the far left end of the main building.

"Well, let's go then."

The two companions exited the building and entered into the courtyard, a large area in the shape of a square due to how the rest of the church was built around it. When he first came to be the pastor of the church, Father Bianchi had taken the liberty of planting trees and flowers, as well as installing a fountain. It had served to make the area more comforting to guests.

In the center of the courtyard, in front of the fountain, a folding table had been set up with six chairs around it. At the far end sat Father Bianchi, who smiled warmly at the sight of his friend. Two other men sat at the table with him and turned to look at the newcomers.

Saber instantly tensed up. The feeling she'd had got stronger since entering the courtyard. If she had to guess, she'd say the other two men were Servants. She wasn't nearly strong enough to take both of them on at once, so she was grateful the church was considered neutral ground.

One of the men was a European with white hair and grey eyes who sat straight and proper, wearing a black suit and gloves. He simply nodded to the newcomers.

The other man was also a European, though he was much different in appearance and posture. He had muscles strong enough to make professional bodybuilders quiver in fear, spiky blond hair, and countless scars across his body and exposed chest, one even going across his right eye. He wore modern black pants and even darker tattoos traced elaborate patterns across his upper arms. Instead of sitting up straight, he leaned back in his chair with his feet on the table. He simply smirked at Saber and Batreaux.

 _These two are clearly Servants,_ Saber thought. _But as strong as that shirtless man is, this feeling… Hmm._

"Ah, hello, Batreaux. I am glad to see you doing well. I assume the armored person with you is Saber, yes?"

Batreaux smiled and shook the priest's hand. "Yeah, Father. This is Saber, and I'm fine." He sat down in the chair directly across from his friend. Saber remained standing. She had no intention of stooping to the level of these commoners in her current mood.

"So, my friend. I am sure you are curious as to why I called you and your Servant here, yes?"

Batreaux nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, actually. You said it was important, but you didn't say there would be other people here too. I know the church is a safe zone, but I have to ask. Are they Masters or Servants?"

"You would be correct in assuming they are Servants. In fact, that's what you are here to talk about. You see, this Holy Grail War is not like the others."

This caught Saber's attention. She tilted her head slightly to look at the elderly priest, though still did not speak.

"Not like the others?" Batreaux asked in her place. "You mean it's different? How?"

"Allow me to explain," Father Bianchi replied, placing a chessboard on the table. He set a gold piece shaped like a cup in the exact center of the board, to represent the Holy Grail. "As you know, the Holy Grail War is fought between seven pairs of Masters and Servants, one for each class." He began to place other pieces on the board that Batreaux assumed represented the seven classes of Servants.

"Saber. Lancer. Archer. Rider. Caster. Assassin. Berserker." It was then Batreaux noticed the pieces were blue, like he'd seen before.

"Hey… I've seen these before. Seven blue chess pieces exactly like these. I had a vision of them when I summoned Saber."

"And what else did you see, my friend?"

"I saw… six other pieces, for every class but Saber… only they were red." Father Bianchi turned the board around and place seven matching red pieces on the other side.

"Exactly. I'm sure you see what's different about this war then? The role of the Red Saber has fallen to you my friend. This is no ordinary Holy Grail War. What you and these other two Servants find themselves in is a partnership in a Great Holy Grail War."

Batreaux and Saber looked on in shock. "A…. Great Holy Grail War?" they said in unison.

"Indeed," Father Bianchi continued. "When the majority of the seven Servants summoned are united for whatever reason, the Grail chooses seven more Masters and unifies them into an opposing alliance. The Masters and Servants united from Fuyuki, where the war is usually held, are the Blue Faction. You, Saber, and these Servants here are part of the Red Faction."

The two men decided to take the opportunity to introduce themselves. The white haired man went first.

"Greetings, Master of Saber," he began. "I am Assassin of Red, Charles-Henri Sanson. I look forward to working together." Sanson bowed lightly.

"N-nice to meet you," Batreaux replied. "But are you sure it's a good idea to reveal your true identity to me like that?"

"It's fine, I assure you. My Master has given me her permission, and we are allies, are we not?"

Saber had taken the opportunity to analyze Assassin while he spoke with Batreaux.

 _Hmmph. Sanson, huh? Our Assassin is a French executor? How does a man who kills people publicly qualify as an Assassin anyway? …That said, in battle he'll likely prefer attacks aimed at the neck. I'll keep it in mind._

"Well then," said the other man, standing up from his seat, "Now that Sanson's introduced himself I guess it's my turn. I'm Berserker of Red, but you can just call me Beowulf." He gave a grin and reached out his hand to Batreaux, who nearly had his arm torn off by the giant of a man's handshake.

"Wow, the great king of the Geats! It's an honor to meet you, your majesty!"

Berserker gave a heary laugh. "Ha ha ha ha hah! Please, no need to be so formal, Batreaux! You've already formed a contract with royalty, so as far as I'm concerned we're on even ground."

"Royalty? Oh, you mean Saber?" It had slipped Batreaux's mind, but as the child of King Arthur, his Servant _was_ technically royalty. "You can tell something like that?"

"Of course! Your Servant carries themselves in a way only a royal would. So then, Saber. You seem quite familiar to me. You're also from around the sixth century, yes?"

Saber narrowed her eyes and tightened her guard. _How the hell can he tell something like that through my armor? Did Beowulf know my father? This Berserker… If he betrays us, he'll be a troublesome foe._

"Huh. Not the talkative type I guess. Hey, Master Saber. What's your Servant's name?"

Batreaux felt a wave of anger flow through his link with Mordred. It very clearly told him _"If you reveal my identity to them, I'll kill you, knave."_

"Yeah, you'll have to ask Saber about that, not me."

"Awww, I was hoping to know who all I was working with. Would you at least like to have a little sparring match, Saber?" Beowulf had a glint in his eye as he said that. He truly was a Berserker.

"I'll pass for now." Saber replied. Normally she'd be willing to fight whoever, whenever, but after her sham of a match with Rider, she couldn't afford to use any more mana for the time being.

"Hmmm. That's odd. Archer was here earlier, but he seems to have left." Father Bianchi spoke up. "In addition to that, Rider, Caster, and Lancer's Masters have not arrived yet. A shame. Lancer is supposed to quite powerful."

Batreaux and Mordred glanced at each other.

 _A powerful Lancer?_ Saber thought. _Could it be… my father?_

 _King Arthur qualifies as a Lancer?_ Batreaux asked her.

 _Yeah. Likely because of that damned spear of his._ Batreaux vaguely remembered reading that Arthur had used a spear to kill Mordred at Camlann. Apparently that part of the legend was true.

 _Well, we shouldn't worry about that now, Mordred. Besides, what are the chances of you two meeting again like this?_

Her 'Master' had a point. _Still…_ Saber thought. _If Father has been summoned, then…_

 **.-.**

On the other side of the world, in the city of Fuyuki, sits a church identical in design to the one visited by the companions Mordred and Batreaux. Its construction is of a different make. Where Father Bianchi's church is built from wood, this church is made of stone.

The building is a paradox. A church is supposed to be a safe haven, a warm place where one can admit their troubles and repent of their sins. This church possesses a cold, almost oppressive atmosphere. Even during the day, one can feel darkness around them. A sermon here would be more likely to make one feel guilt of sins they did not commit than soothe the soul.

And the pastor of this church is a man who embodies that very contradiction happily and without shame.

Father Kirei Kotomine. The man has shoulder length brown hair and dark, piercing eyes. He wears the dark colored outfit of a priest.

"So the final Master of Red has summoned his Servant then? I see. Thank you, Father Bianchi." Kirei smiles to himself. While the addition of new Masters and Servants to the war would complicate things and make his job harder, it would also bring more suffering for him to enjoy.

"What are you laughing about now, holy man?" came a voice from behind him. Out of the shadows appeared a pale man with golden hair and crimson, serpentine eyes. A casual but confident smirk lay on his face, and despite his simple outfit, it would be clear to anyone who met him that he was not one to mess with.

"It seems the little alliance the Masters have created has caused the Grail's failsafe to activate. Seven more Masters will be arriving in Fuyuki shortly."

The gold haired man smiled. "So, fourteen more fools who would dare to steal from me? Let them come. It will be quite amusing to watch their struggles."

"Shall I have Lancer dispose of them then, King of Heroes? With the deaths of their Servants, we will have enough energy to manifest the Grail and fulfill our wish."

The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, thought to himself for a moment.

"No," he said. "Not yet. Continue to have Lancer test their abilities. Should any of these newcomers fall to him, then they were not worthy to begin with. However, one or two of them may yet prove worthy of being ruled by me."

Gilgamesh left the church and entered into the cold night air. The King of Heroes found this new information unexpected, but welcome. This Holy Grail War was about to become a lot more interesting.

"Come then, you mongrels. Let us see if there is one among you worthy of my collection."

 **Fate/Stay Night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 3: Servants of Red**

 **A/N: Yeah, honestly, I don't really think this chapter is some of my best work. For that and the delay, I apologize. I've had a lot of work to do recently, so I haven't been able to give this my best. I know I said the Stay/Night characters would appear in this one, but in the end I could only fit in Kirei and Gilgamesh. The rest of the gang will be in the next chapter, I swear.**

 **Standard requests apply, leave questions, comments, concerns, etc. in your review please.**


	4. The Saint Of The Waterside

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or other related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay again, my sister got married recently so I had to deal with that.**

 **I'm surprised this story's gotten as much attention as it has. 3400 views? Seriously, thanks.**

 **On reviews:**

 **-ffure21: Nice to hear people actually enjoy the oc characters so far. To an extent, I'm using this story to practice character writing for a personal project, so it's encouraging to note. As for why George revealed his identity so quickly, it's a combination of knightly honor and how for some Servants (like Astolfo) they don't really have glaring weaknesses that would make revealing their names as big of a liability. Elise doesn't like him having done that though.**

 **-Dragoon Swordsman: Ahahaha, if only it could be so simple as red vs blue. There's certainly a big shakeup on the horizon. Not only are Kirei and Gil around, there's still the Shadow. And not all of the Servants may not be the most… agreeable.**

 **Now that more characters are being introduced, I should mention this story will use elements from all three story routes, (primarily Fate), Zero, and Hollow Ataraxia.**

 **Alright, let's begin.**

 **.-.**

Under the cover of the night sky and the pure light of the moon, a lone man makes his way up the stone stairway leading to the gate of Ryuudou Temple. The temple rests on the slopes of Mount Enzou, on the outskirts of Miyama, Fuyuki. It and the stairs leading to its gate are surrounded on all sides by a vibrant mountain forest, the leaves of the many trees a mixture of verdant greens and the oranges, yellows, and reds of autumn.

Behind the temple, the forest is broken by a single lake. The temple itself sits upon the nexus point of all Fuyuki's leylines, making it a sort of keystone for magical energies. An excellent workshop location for a Caster class Servant like himself. This man, walking towards Ryuudou Temple with intent to make it his base was dressed in a rather stylish disguise, with black dress shoes, grey pants, an orange checkerboard shirt under an open black suit jacket. He wears a silver pendant on his neck and black leather gloves on his hands. His brown hair is unkempt and spiky, yet still adds to the completion of his look.

Caster, or rather Caster of Red as his role was to be, had lost his Master shortly after being summoned in a surprise attack by an unknown entity he presumed to be a Servant of Blue, one of his enemies. He was in spirit form at the time, so thanks to that he'd managed to escape the area. His relatively weak abilities and low mana consumption likely helped in that regard.

While his mana consumption was low enough when not active as to let him survive longer without a Master than most other Servants, he needed to find another source of magical energy to sustain himself with if he wanted to continue 'living'. He had no interest in finding another human to be his Master, honestly he could care less for them. So he instead turned his attention towards the largest congregation of leylines he could find- Ryuudou Temple.

At that moment, Caster detected something that made him stop in his tracks. He looked up towards the temple gate and squinted. He could feel the presence of magecraft nearby.

 _It seems I've been beaten to the punch on this one._ He thought to himself. A minor setback. Caster decided to circle around to the back of the temple through the forest instead, and attempt to probe any Bounded Fields he might come across.

As Caster disappeared into the trees, he failed to notice the figure who had been watching him the entire time. The indigo haired samurai known as Assassin of Blue smirked to himself as he watched Caster, stray leaves slicing in half as they drifted near him. Caster of Blue had ordered him to defend the temple gate and defeat anyone who tried to enter it. But the other man wasn't attempting to enter from the gate, so he could technically be ignored. That suited Assassin just fine. He quite disliked his Master at the best of times, so anything that inconvenienced her was welcome to him.

As Caster of Red moved about the right side wall of the temple, he'd been observing the Bounded Field surrounding it the entire time. Thanks to one of his personal skills, he'd analyzed the field and the structure of the magecraft that composed it. Caster tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow.

"Magecraft from the Age of the Gods…" he said. The field was designed in a way to specifically ward against spiritual beings such as Servants like himself. Entering anywhere but the front gate would weaken him considerably.

"For one Servant to go to such lengths… how appalling." And foolish. As impressive a mage the creator of the field was, they had overlooked a flaw in it. A miniscule, almost imperceptible hairline fracture was present, clearly a mark of damage. Whoever had made the fracture was an even more skilled magus than the creator of the field.

Caster shifted himself into spirit form and flowed through the fracture, thereby bypassing the field's weakening effect. Not that it would mean much in the long run, but he would prefer to conserve as much power as possible.

Assassin watched closely as Caster exited the small clearing surrounded by trees within the wall and walked into the center of the temple's courtyard. A sour look crossed his face after feeling the presence of his Master nearby. The fake Heroic Spirit sighed.

 _Well, his intrusion was amusing while it lasted, I suppose._

Suddenly, Caster detected a large spike of magical energy somewhere up in the sky, and leapt backwards just in time to avoid a rain of purple light beams. The area where he'd been standing just a moment before was bright red from the heat, and the stone had begun to melt.

"Not only do you manage to pierce my Bounded Field, you detect and avoid Machia Hecatia Graea as well? You're quite interesting for such a lowly magus, intruder." Caster of Red looked up to see the source of the voice, a woman wearing a purple robe around her body and a dark blue hood to conceal her face.

"I presume from your display of magic that you are Caster of Blue, correct? I am Caster of Red. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Caster bowed lightly towards the other Caster.

Caster of Blue descended to the ground, her staff glowing with purple malevolence.

"I see. So you're in league with that other intruder then are you? The one that called himself Lancer of Red." Caster pointed her staff at the Red Faction's Caster and it crackled with violet lightning erratically. She grimaced beneath her hood. _Now I understand,_ she thought. _Lancer of Red was only here as a distraction, so his team's Caster could sneak in and try to steal this territory._

"Since you're an enemy… I suppose I should destroy you now." It wasn't a threat. It was a statement. Compared to modern magi and even other Caster class Servants, Caster of Blue was on another level. Very few Heroic Spirits, such as Tamamo-no-Mae, could match her abilities with magecraft. Wiping out Caster of Red would be as simple as snapping her fingers.

"Perhaps," Caster of Red responded. "But I imagine an alliance would serve both of our purposes much better."

Caster of Blue lowered her staff and dissipated the electricity magic. "You seek an alliance, Caster of Red? What are you playing at?" Caster of Red shook his head.

"I assure you I have no ulterior motive here. My Master is dead, you see, so I seek asylum here where the leylines congregate. As for my business, I only desire to finish the formulas I could not while alive. One such as yourself who can even cast High Thaumaturgy in an instant would be an invaluable ally."

"Hmmph. And why should I bother wasting the mana it would take to keep you manifested here? What benefit can you offer me?" Caster of Blue had begun to circle around her crimson counterpart, watching him cautiously. He would pose no threat to her in a direct confrontation, but he had managed to avoid her spells. In the world of mages, there was no such thing as too careful.

"I have a unique ability to completely analyze and repair anything that can be called a formula." Caster of Red began. He motioned over to the small clearing with a gloved hand. "For example, your Bounded Field. You've likely noticed, but there was a tiny fracture on the right wall. That's how I got in."

Caster of Blue was intrigued. In reality, she hadn't noticed, but it made perfect sense. That tiny break in the Bounded Field was likely how Lancer of Red had gotten past it. That infuriating Lancer. No matter what she tried, Caster was completely unable to affect them with any of her magecraft, and they mocked her all the while. If Caster of Red had managed to notice, he must've been a genius at structural design in life.

"If you'd like," he continued, "I'll repair it for you as a show of good faith. Essentially, if you allow me to stay here, then you will never have to worry about repairing your magecraft. I'll even help construct additional defenses if you'd like."

Caster of Blue had to admit, he made a tempting offer. With Caster of Red handling the upkeep of her various constructions, why, she wouldn't even need to drain mana from Fuyuki's citizens anymore! Even though she'd promised the Emiya boy she would stop, she didn't really mean it. The fool hadn't even made her sign a geas or anything.

 _Well, I may stop now,_ she thought, robe billowing gently in the night breeze. _Even if just to take some heat off of me. I know I wasn't the only Servant taking mana from civillians._ That thought unnerved her more than she would like to admit. Lancer of Blue had been the only Servant to not make an appearance or send a familiar when the Overseer, Father Kirei, had called a gathering to explain the new situation. Meaning Lancer and his Master weren't interested in the new alliance. Well, Assassin hadn't been there either, but that was simple enough to make up a convincing lie for.

Lancer of Blue had also been the one who appeared in the middle of her old Master's "workshop" that fateful day she met her beloved. That look in his eyes… He'd been sent to kill her, but Lancer had clearly believed a bleeding out woman to not be worth his time to kill. Yet, with her beloved Souichirou's help, she'd survived.

 _There's no telling when Lancer's Master will realize I'm still alive and send him back after me. And given how both Lancers have managed to effortlessly find and break into my workshop, I clearly can't predict them._ Caster of Blue rested a gloved hand on her chin as she pondered the current circumstances.

 **.-.**

Somewhere else in Fuyuki, said Lancer sneezed.

 **.-.**

Still, Lancer of Red seemed stronger than Lancer of Blue had. With the enhancements she had given her new Master, she was confident the two of them and Assassin could take Lancer of Blue down if need be, but one couldn't be too careful. And Lancer of Red was another story entirely.

If Caster of Red was truly capable of improving her defenses as much as he claimed he could, then he would be a valuable ally. Caster of Blue smiled and extended a hand towards her former enemy. She could always dispose of him later when he was no longer of use.

"I accept your offer, Caster of Red." The brown haired man took the handshake and smiled himself. "Now then. If we are to work together, shouldn't we use our real names? Calling us both Caster might get confusing for my Master, after all." She certainly didn't want to inconvenience her beloved like that.

Caster of Red shook his head. "Unfortunately, I must decline for now." Caster of Blue frowned. Her new ally was smarter than she'd thought. She may not have full control over him yet, but one day she would. Just like she would that beautiful Saber contracted with the Emiya boy.

"Calling us Red Caster and Blue Caster should be sufficient for now, but if you really need a civilian name, for disguises and such…." He thought to himself for a moment.

"Call me Archie."

Assassin had been watching this scene play out from the temple gate the entire time. He was impressed with how easily the Red Caster had managed to avoid Blue Caster's attack. Assassin of Blue raised an eyebrow and smiled to himself.

 _Well now, things just got a bit more interesting around here._

 **.-.**

Batreaux had seen a lot in his twenty four years of life. He'd seen car crashes, robberies, and gotten food poisoning from crappy taco trucks. He'd braved the depths of internet forums and imageboards and encountered all kinds of depravity. He'd seen things that really shouldn't be discussed in polite company and despite his revulsion at them was convinced he was on some kind of watch list.

Most recently, he'd discovered the existence of magic, summoned a cute girl who was actually one of history's most infamous traitors, and witnessed said girl battle against a dragon-slaying saint.

But none of that, not even the awe inspiring battle between heroes could not prepare him for what he was witnessing. The all-consuming void in front of him did not stop, did not wait. It devoured everything in its path, and yet hungered for more. In the face of this unstoppable black hole, Batreaux could only think one thing as he stared on in fear and awe.

 _How the hell is it possible for one person to eat so much?_ Batreaux considered himself a heavy eater, but if what he'd seen here was any indication, Mordred was something even further beyond. Already the Heroic Spirit had eaten enough to feed four men, and didn't seem to be slowing down.

"For fuck's sake, Saber! You're built like a bunch of twigs, how the hell can you eat so much?"

"Hey, I gotta get my strength back somehow," the Servant replied between mouthfuls. "And I can't get enough mana from you for that." Batreaux still hadn't really touched his first plate of food yet. He was still in shock at just how much food she could pack away.

For her part, Mordred was still angry over what had happened in her fight with Rider, and the fact the two of them were apparently supposed to be allies now, but that was fading as she ate more and more food. Batreaux was still under _her_ command however.

"Alright, I get that but it takes some time, right? Where does all that food go?"

"When I get hungry, I get hungry." Saber said through a mouthful of cake. "Besides," she added after swallowing. "This stuff's a _lot_ better than the shit we had to eat back in Camelot." Faster than Batreaux could see, the blonde ran back to the buffet and came back with a plate piled high with pizza and eggs.

Batreaux smiled. It seemed he and his Servant shared their taste in food, namely, they'd eat anything as long as it tastes good. That, and he was interested after she'd mentioned Camelot. Reading about the legends and viewing adaptations (of which there were surprisingly few accurate western ones) as a kid was one thing, but a chance to learn about what happened from someone who was actually there was too good to pass up.

 _Though if Mordred was really a girl, who knows what can be considered accurate anymore._ He thought.

"What did you eat in Camelot, Saber?" he asked, finally eating some of his pudding.

Mordred's eyes glazed over and her mouth curled into a frown, as if she was recalling some traumatic experience.

"Potatoes. Bread. Vegetables. Vinegar. Every single day. I don't think any of us liked it aside from Father. We all just pretended we did to spare his feelings." Saber shook her head. "Well, except Gawain. I think that overly chivalrous idiot really did like that slop. Hah! It's fitting if you ask me!"

"I take it you didn't like Gawain much?" Batreaux asked, resting his head in his left hand and a spoonful of macaroni in the other. Saber breathed out slowly, running a hand through her hair.

"I gotta admit, I looked up to him at first. Not as much as Father, but still a lot. He never really trusted me, though, and in the end he was right not to." She smirked. "Obviously, I'm the superior fighter between us. Maybe if the fool had accepted Lancelot's help he might've stood half a chance!"

Batreaux grinned. "Huh? Didn't Lancelot weaken him for you in the first place?" Saber glared at him.

"Oi, don't belittle my accomplishments like that." She protested with a slight whine in her voice. Batreaux laughed lightly.

"Seriously though. It's a good thing you agreed to come here. Chinese buffets may be kinda shitty and not really have much Chinese food, but they're cheap. And isn't that what really matters?"

Saber chuckled lightly to herself. "Hmmm? So you're saying this _wasn't_ a bribe to try and get yourself back in charge?" Batreaux was actually a bit irritated by that. It was probably a joke, but the mere implication he'd try to bribe Saber was something he didn't appreciate.

"No way in hell would I ever do that, Mordred. If I end up back in charge, it'll be because I've earned your respect." Batreaux leaned back in his chair and looked at his Command Seals. He still had every intention to use them if he had to. "Besides, I think being your 'regent' might not be so bad."

Saber's mouth hung open in disbelief. She stared at Batreaux like he'd just grown a second head. "So you're fine being number two? Really? Should I even ask what your wish for the Grail is?"

"Honestly, I just want a quiet, peaceful life. I used to be a janitor, you know, so I'm perfectly fine doing the work other people don't want to. Someone's gotta do it."

"Unbelievable," Saber said. "To think the magus that summoned me would not only be third-rate, but not even have any ambition to improve…"

"It's not that I don't have ambition, it's that my ambition is not having to deal with the rest of the world's bullshit."

He finished his food and pushed the plate off to the side, next to the mountain of plates Saber had made. "Anyway, Saber. What's your wish, while we're on the subject?"

Mordred's face hardened and she became serious. She looked Batreaux straight in the eyes. "I want to challenge the Sword of Selection, just like my Father. I'm going to prove I'm a worthy heir once and for all."

Batreaux blinked at her. "I thought Caliburn was enchanted so _only_ Arthur could wield it. But, well, you're so confident I guess you could pull it off anyway."

Saber smirked. "Well of course. I'm already the perfect heir. This is just so I can rub it in Father's face." She downed her drink and smiled. Soda, her Master had called it. It wasn't quite as good as ale, but it was really sweet and bubbly. She'd have to get Batreaux to buy her some alchohol later to compare the two directly.

"By the way…" Saber said, a light blush on her face. "What did you think of my moves earlier?" Batreaux was a bit surprised. Saber always carried herself with confidence, so he wasn't quite prepared for this sudden question. It almost seemed like she wanted his approval, which if what she'd said about her parents before was true wouldn't be too far off.

"Saber, I have never seen anything more amazing in my life." It was a completely honest statement. Saber blushed a bit harder.

"R-really? Amazing? Even though I lost?"

"You lost because I can't give you enough mana to fight properly. I'm sure if you were at full power you would've won easily."

Saber leaned back in her chair and looked up to the ceiling. _Batreaux really thinks I did 'amazing'?_ she thought. _Even though I lost? True, it's kinda his fault, but still…_ She looked over at the pile of plates she'd made and considered what her Master had said. Something clicked inside her mind.

 _He said this food wasn't a bribe or anything, he wants to earn my respect, he thinks I did a good job even if I failed…_

 _Does… Does he actually_ care _about me? Even just a little bit?_

"Hey, Saber," Bareaux called to her. Saber snapped back to reality and flushed brighter for a moment before managing to calm herself down.

"W-what?" she said hastily, leaning over on one hand in an attempt to look cool and composed. Fortunately, Batreaux hadn't noticed the break from her usual demeanor.

"You done yet? We're not in a hurry or anything, but we've still got a lot to do to prepare for our flight."

"Y-yeah, if you're ready, then let's go."

The pair stood up and moved towards the register so Batreaux could pay for their meal now that Mordred had finally eaten her fill. A few times throughout he thought he'd seen employees and other customers staring at them with shock. It wouldn't really be surprising. Even the cashier seemed a bit perturbed, as if she was debating whether to bar them from the buffet or not. Saber adjusted her borrowed jacket as the two left the building and headed on their way home.

"Oi, Batreaux. Buy me some booze later, will ya?"

"Yeah… no. You're what, fifteen, seventeen at the most? There's laws against underage drinking you know. It's fine for me because I'm over twenty one, but I could get in trouble if you were drinking."

"You know I'm actually about ninety times older than you right? I only _look_ seventeen."

Batreaux rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, but you don't have any kind of ID, and again, I don't want to go to jail. You're not drinking in public, Saber. I don't care if you're the one in charge or not. Wait until we get home."

Saber groaned and slouched over as they walked. "Fiiiiiinnnneeeee." Batreaux noticed that despite everything about her and what she'd been through, Saber seemed to have similar mannerisms to a child. He found that bit of innocence she seemed to retain endearing to an extent, but he was also a bit depressed by it.

The blond sighed and shook his head. He and Saber would take some time to relax and play some games when they got home, then prepare for their trip to Fuyuki.

 _Gotta take some time to relax while we still can. I may not be coming home._

What he had not noticed was the concealed Servant who had been watching them. Saber hadn't noticed either. Thanks to one of his Noble Phantasms, Archer of Red had a pseudo-Presence Concealment that could even rival the Assassin class. He'd accomplished exactly what his Master had sent him to do. He'd learned the identities of all Servants of Red, with two exceptions.

Caster.

And Lancer.

Though the most interesting thing he'd discovered was Red Master Saber's identity. Batreaux… his Master had mentioned someone like that before. Archer smiled lightly underneath the hood of his cloak.

 _Well now,_ Archer of Red thought to himself, _Miss Rachel isn't going to like this._

 **.-.**

This was an unexpected turn of events.

Not Rin's reaction to the situation, that was entirely predictable. In fact, the twintailed brunette seemed to be handling the news far better than Archer of Blue had expected she would have. He'd expected her to be in hysterics after learning everything she'd worked her entire life for had just gone up in smoke.

Thanks to Shirou Emiya, Rin Tohsaka's plans for the Fifth Holy Grail War were completely meaningless. Seven more Masters and Servants were coming to try and kill them all and claim the Grail for themselves, something she hadn't even begun to prepare for.

To be fair, she had no idea the Grail even had a "reserve system" built into it in the first place. Archer didn't either. Still, the fact the current situation was completely out of her hands to have prevented did little to comfort the Tohsaka Master. If anything, it seemed to make the situation worse.

Not only would she have to defend herself against completely alien elements, she was forced to work with Shirou, who'd gotten her into this mess, and the boy's older sister Illyasviel von Einzbern, the psycho-loli who'd tried and nearly succeeded in killing her and Archer with her Servant Berserker.

Really, all things considered it was a wonder Rin hadn't broken down crying. Instead, though… She was screaming into her pillow, beating her legs against her bed. In between the screams that were impressively loud enough to hurt his ears, Archer could make out a few words, namely "stupid, idiot, Shirou, waste, bastard, destroy, Grail, Father, priest" in various orders and combined with some rather colorful expletives one wouldn't expect a high school girl to know. Rin was even throwing in some English words and phrases Archer likely wouldn't have understood if he wasn't a Counter Guardian.

For his part, the tanned Servant was surprised by the state of affairs as well. Though after being summoned he'd told his Master he didn't remember his past or who he was, that was a half-truth. He didn't remember much, but what he did remember was very clear. He remembered Rin. He remembered his own identity even though he pretended not to. He remembered his self-appointed mission to kill Shirou Emiya.

And he remembered the Fifth Holy Grail War did _not_ go like this. In the timeline he came from, the War evolving into a Great Holy Grail War wasn't even a possibility. But all it takes is one small alteration and everything goes off the rails.

 _It must have been… when Shirou and Saber headed to Ryuudou Temple._ He thought. _Something happened differently to draw Caster out, and everything snowballed from there._ The red-mantled hero was almost surprised Shirou would team up with Caster willingly after learning she'd been targeting civilians. But he supposed she could lie to him easily enough. It's not like he or Saber had the means to enforce any agreements she made with them after all.

"Hey, Archer! Are you even listening to me?" Rin's angry outburst seemed to have finished. The young magus was sitting up on her bed with the pillow she'd screamed into on her lap. Her face was still red and bore an angry scowl, one eye half closed as she glared at her Servant. The white haired Archer grinned. He'd heard her loud and clear. _Anyway, sitting here feeling sorry for myself won't solve anything. What do you think about all of this, Archer?_ She'd said.

"I'm sorry, Rin. Could you repeat that? I was thinking about something else." Messing with his Master was one of Archer's favorite things to do. Messing with people in general was really. So when he saw a chance to provoke Rin, he couldn't help but take it. It didn't help that Rin was just so _easy_ to tease.

"Come on Archer, this is serious!" Rin yelled, jumping off the bed to stand in front of him. "We need to think of some kind of strategy we can use for when the Red Faction gets here!"

"Why don't we just let Berserker handle them for us? It seems to have worked well for Shirou so far."

"You expect me to lower myself down to Emiya's level after he started working with that witch?!" Rin didn't like Caster. She was prepared to do almost anything to win the Grail War, but going after civilians was too far. Apparently Shirou did not feel the same, and thus she found herself in the current situation. That both angered and disappointed Rin. Shirou was always talking about how he wanted to be a Hero of Justice that saves everyone. Him teaming up with Caster made no sense to her.

"Relax, Rin. It was just a joke." Archer turned away from his Master to look out the window of the Tohsaka estate. The nameless hero recalled the first night of the war, when Rin had shown him around the city before the returned to the roof of the tallest building. Archer had taken that moment to demonstrate a small sample of his abilities. He remembered what Rin had said to him after that.

 _I'm impressed. You really are an Archer!_ Considering his eyesight, strength, and how many Noble Phantasms he could reproduce… The Counter Guardian may have just come up with a plan.

"I'll admit, I've never been in a situation quite like this before," he began, "But I know what we need to do to deal with our enemies." Rin's mood brightened a bit after hearing that.

"Oh? What's your plan, Archer?"

Archer opened the window, letting in the cold night air. The Counter Guardian was unaffected, but Rin yelled out and pulled a part of her bedsheets in front of her to block the chill. Archer drew his bow and Traced an arrow. He nocked the arrow and drew it back, before firing out the window. The arrow sailed off with incredible speed, flying far out of sight.

"I have an effective range of around four kilometers," Archer said, grey eyes still locked on where his arrow disappeared from normal human sight. "Based on what Father Kotomine said, the Masters of Red are likely to be foreigners. We use our knowledge of the city against them. When I've located a member of the Red Faction, I'll give you a signal." Archer closed the window and turned back to his Master, who was listening intently. "Then, you contact Shirou and Illya and have them get Saber and Berserker ready. I'll lead our enemy to their location with arrows, and we let them do the rest."

Rin had to admit, it was a solid plan. Not only could Saber and Berserker working together take down nearly anyone, it also left her and Archer in top condition for when they inevitably had to fight their current teammates again. The brunette nodded to her Servant.

"That could work." She said. "There's one problem though, Archer. What are we going to do about Lancer?" Archer narrowed his eyes. Ah yes, Lancer… better known as Cú Chulainn, the legendary hero of the Ulster Cycle. Archer held a special enmity for him, and he _was_ an extremely dangerous foe, but…

"We'll deal with the Lancer problem later. Right now our priority is defeating the Red Faction."

 **.-.**

Lancer of Blue sneezed again. The Irish Servant was currently doing what he usually did whenever the priest didn't need him to do his dirty work- fishing. With brown boots, black pants and a Hawaiian shirt, he held his fishing pole out over the waters of Fuyuki's docks, a lit cigarette in his mouth.

 _What, again?_ He thought. _I know I'm not sick or anything, so what the hell?_ Lancer thought back over recent events while listening to the relaxing roll of the waves. _Stupid priest. First that bastard kills my real Master, then he sends me out to do recon work. The worst part is he won't even let me fight!_ A small tugging on the line indicated a fish had taken the bait. Quick as a flash, Lancer pulled his line out of the water, only to find the fish had somehow managed to slip away, his E rank Luck at work.

 _Man, she was pretty cute, too._ Lancer hadn't gotten to see much of his real Master's body thanks to the priest and her suit, but what he did get to see, namely her face, was fairly pleasing to his eyes. Her short fuchsia hair was rather nice, and he thought the suit even suited her well.

His thoughts turned to the recent fights he had been allowed to have. He'd tested most of the other Servants in some way, but that's all he'd been allowed to do before the priest called him back. Test. It was annoying. Right as the fights started getting good, he had to abandon them. It didn't help that the priest intentionally gave him an amount of mana that was _just_ under what he needed, so on occasion he had to go after civilians to maintain himself. It wasn't something he really minded all that much, but he didn't like it either. It worked, though.

Lancer's thoughts turned to his most recent fights, with Saber and Archer. He had to admit, he was intrigued by the fact Saber's master managed to survive being stabbed, and Saber herself had made him release a bit of his Noble Phantasm's power. It was especially strange that Saber's Master had survived, since the wounds inflicted by his spear are supposed to be impossible to heal.

Archer, on the other hand, kinda ticked him off. Maybe it was the way Archer fought or just his general attitude, but he and Lancer did not get along.

 _Why's an Archer using swords, anyway?_ Lancer thought. _What was with that red half jacket? Is he g_ _á_ _e or something? His Master looked too young to fight in this war. What's next, a little girl?_

These were the important questions that filled Lancer's mind as he continued to fish. It briefly crossed his mind that his lance, the cursed Gáe Bolg, was made from the bones of a sea monster. Maybe if he actually caught any fish next time he could use the bones to craft a smaller spear, or at least some kind of cursed toothpick.

Lancer sighed, reeling in his line and picking up his still empty bucket of fish, and the blue haired warrior turned to leave the docks. He hoped something interesting would happen soon so he could have a real fight. So far, following the priest's orders had been pretty boring.

 _I wonder what Teacher's up to right now._

 **.-.**

Kirei Kotomine stared at the Servant who had appeared at his church dead in the eyes, his expression not changing the slightest bit. Ruler stared back at him in exactly the same manner.

 _So, this is the Ruler class Servant that the Holy Grail itself saw fit to summon? This… complicates things._

Though he'd long since embraced the evil in his heart, Kirei knew at once who had been summoned to serve as the Ruler. Anyone who'd worked for the Church as long as he had would. Ruler was a beautiful woman with long violet hair tied in silk ribbons on either side. Chainmail lay draped across her shoulders, covering part of her long pure white dress, itself with an area cut out on her chest and abdomen to resemble a cross.

Iron boots protected her feet at the end of deep blue leggings, gauntlets of the same metal protected her forearms. In her right hand, Ruler held an ornate staff that also resembled a cross. The staff was held at an angle, and her left hand rested on her hip, just above her belt buckle.

Ruler exuded the kind of presence that Kirei Kotomine himself should have, yet did not. Where the priest of Fuyuki's mien was dark, oppressive, and malicious, Ruler's was bright, comforting, and supportive. The fact that the two's clothing could be said to match these auras in their coloring at least was purely coincidental. Yet, one look into Ruler's eyes that shone like sapphires would reveal she was still quite capable of delivering her sermons with steel instead of speech should the need arise.

"My greetings to you, Saint Martha," Kirei said to Ruler, with all the politeness and goodwill he could muster. It was simple enough for Kirei to keep up his façade around Rin, who despite her father's best teachings still acted based on her emotions rather than logic more often than not, but a saint who had personally traveled with and learned from the Messiah would be… more difficult to fool. That said, Kirei was anything if not tenacious, so if deceiving one of the world's first saints was what he needed to do to fulfill his wish, then deceive her he shall.

"It is an honor to have a companion of the Son of God Himself preside over this Grail War. I am Father Kirei Kotomine, the pastor of this church and the Overseer of the war. Please, know that as your brother before the Lord, I wish to offer you any assistance I can."

Ruler suspected Kirei was not being entirely honest with her. She could sense a kind of darkness within him, located around his heart- that is to say, there was only darkness there, the priest quite literally did not have a heart. Immediately Ruler was wary. She would keep her concerns to herself for now. It would not be wise to make an enemy of the priest this early into her mission. The brown haired Inquisitor grimaced internally, but kept his outer mask firm. For a brief moment, he thought Ruler would discover his deception and begin to investigate the premises. That would not do for his plans.

Just as quickly as Kirei's doubts formed and had mentally readied himself for battle, they vanished with the smile on Ruler's face.

"Thank you for the offer Kirei, but despite us both being Overseers of a sort, I'm afraid I can't accept your help at the moment." Ruler spoke with a voice gentle and sisterly. Even if this hadn't assuaged Kirei's fears that Ruler would learn of his plans, he would have been soothed by her words regardless. "There is something different about this Grail War that I must confirm for myself first." The priest bowed lightly and escorted Ruler to the exit of the church.

"I understand completely." He responded. "Know that should you ever decide to seek assistance, the doors of this church are always open to you."

With the superhuman abilities of a Servant, Ruler took off into the night, searching for an area where she would not be disturbed as she surveyed the battlegrounds. Unknown to Ruler, the golden haired figure of Gilgamesh watched her leave from a shadow around the church, a growing smirk on the Zero Archer's face.

Eventually, Ruler settled on the rooftop of Homurahara Academy's main schoolbuilding. After a quick survey of the land to make sure no one else was around, Ruler closed her eyes and began to focus.

Immediately Ruler detected the presence of the seven Servants of Blue. Lancer, Rider, Caster, and Berserker's existences all felt as they should, but three of them were different. Saber, Archer, and Assassin had strange, conflicting feelings to them. They were Servants, yet not Servants. This confused Ruler, and she resolved to meet them in person to find out why.

Ruler's then felt two more Servants, those belonging to the Red Faction. Lancer of Red's presence was that of a Servant, yet different. There was an element belonging to it that only be described as "divine". The presence was similar to, yet different and weaker than the feeling Ruler would get as she had walked by His side in life. Lancer, Rider, and Berserker of Blue also held the same feeling, though their divinities differed still in their origin.

Caster of Red held a different feeling, one she could not quite place.

Finally, Ruler felt two more beings that should not exist in the War. The first was dark and unmistakably malevolent. It held a feeling that could be said as the opposite of that of Ruler's own class. The second was powerful. This being's power was on a scale comparable to that of Berserker of Blue, and the power Lancer of Blue still hid within. Lancer of Red was another who held a similar amount of power to them.

A glittering, shining, golden existence, Ruler could feel this stranger's presence as being back at the Fuyuki church. It held a feeling that was the same as the darkness she felt before it, the same that she had felt from Kirei Kotomine, though it was deeper, more subdued.

 _So he did lie to me,_ Ruler thought. The once-serene face she held twisted into a scowl as Ruler opened her eyes. She dispelled her staff for a moment and punched her right fist into the palm of her left hand, paying no mind to the sound caused by the impact of the metal. Extrapolating from the information she had, Ruler came to a conclusion that made her angrier.

 _There's sixteen Servants other than me involved here_ , she thought.

Saint Martha truly had her work cut out for her.

 **Fate/stay night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 4: The Saint Of The Waterside**

 **.-.**

 **I will readily admit this took too long to get out. Between schoolwork, my sister's wedding, and other matters I didn't really get to work on this very much. That said, a month is my absolute limit for working on chapters of this story so I'm glad I was able to at least get this out before November. I would like to thank everyone again for about 3400 views on this story.**

 **I feel like I'm forgetting something, but oh well. Standard procedure applies, questions, comments, concerns in the review please.**


	5. The War Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or other related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **A/N: I would like to give a special thanks to RoseWarden for their feedback on the story so far and writing advice in general. If you've got the time, I recommend checking out their Fire Emblem Awakening fic Cycle.**

 **On reviews:**

 **-JUST MONIKA: I'm not going to spoil who Caster and Archer of Red are just yet, but I will say they do have a connection. Glad to hear you like the interactions Batreaux and Mordred have with each other. Mana Transfer, you say? Something like that cgi mana dragon/dolphin, probably. The original X-rated Mana Transfer? Well, I wouldn't say their relationship's quite there yet.**

 **-northernlion196: Yeah, Gawain mentions potatoes as something 'the King and his fellows' would eat at one point in Extra/CCC, so it's just a Nasuverse history deal.**

 **-KnightOfZaku: I wouldn't say they're acting like they're married yet. For one, they haven't argued about whether they should stop and ask for directions, ha ha. But seriously, good to know you like the story so far. Don't worry, Batreaux's going to be forced into the conflict head-on soon enough, whether he's ready or not.**

 **-Taromaru: What ends up happening with Batreaux's Magic Circuits is still in spoiler territory. As for the weapon he made, I had something else in mind for a Mystic Code.**

 **-Fleece Johnson: Noted on the pacing. Personally I'd thought it was beginning to get a bit slow myself. I'm hoping to take this story "off-rails" relatively soon, and Mordred seems like she'd want to fight Arturia again regardless of if she's ready or not.**

 **Anyway, sorry for how long this took. It's holiday season after all, which means family to deal with. I also had finals to prepare for. Calculus, man.**

 **Alright, let's begin.**

 **.-.**

 _I walk down the halls of the abandoned castle I call home, the stone floor freezing cold against the skin of my bare feet. The sword I carry in my hand is even colder. It should be too heavy for me to carry. It is. As strong as I am, the sword drags on the floor behind me, a scraping sound echoing through the halls. It is so cold it may as well be frozen to my hand._

 _It is Winter after all, a little cold is to be expected._

… _.Actually, it's more than just a little cold._

 _I hate it._

 _I hate Winter, I hate snow, I hate the cold. My feet are so cold it feels like they've looped back around to being on fire. My lungs are pierced with what feels like hundreds of icicles. Every desperate, ragged breath I take is pure pain. But I must stay strong._

 _Mother's coming to visit today! If I show her how strong I've become, maybe she'll let me play outside when Spring comes!_

 _Eventually I drag my freezing, near-crippled body over to the main doors of the castle. They're made of solid steel. Mother replaced the old wooden ones at some point._

" _To better defend us with, Mordred dear," she'd said._

 _But all they've done so far is make the room even colder. Sitting down is extremely painful, and the cold shocks into more of my body when I do. Today's training was really hard. I can't tell if the cold I'm feeling in the rest of my body is because of the weather or all the sweat that's frozen to my skin. My blonde hair is frozen over too. Normally, it shines gently in the light like gold, but right now the shine is from ice._

 _The candles on the walls provide my only source of light and warmth. There aren't any windows here, but I can hear the blizzard raging outside._

 _I hope Mother's alright._

… _._

 _Eventually I hear a wolf howl outside, and I know it is night._

 _Wolves._

 _How many of them have I killed now? I've lost count. They were deadly at first, facing a single one of them frightened me to now end. But I had to kill it in order to survive. Adrenaline won me through the first time. Now, I can bat them aside like nothing._

 _Now, it's the bears that scare me._

 _Since it is now nighttime, I painfully stand up and begin to slowly drag myself back up the three flights of stairs that lead to my room, to my bed._

 _Mother didn't visit today, but that's fine. The blizzard's gotten pretty bad. She probably had to find somewhere to stay for the night. I'm sure Mother will be here soon, and she'll tell me how proud she is of me._

… _.I wonder why Father's never come to visit me, either._

… _.Who is my Father, anyway?_

 _I'm hungry._

 _ **.-.**_

 _My vision changes. It seems to be a few days later. It's still cold, but the blizzard seems to have died down and the sun is shining, so the castle has warmed, if only slightly. I hear the doors open and a woman call my name._

" _Mordred? Where are you?" I would recognize that voice anywhere. Mother. A mix of joy and… apprehension washes over me. Mother sounded angry somewhat. I hurry over to her._

" _Here I am, Mother!" I call out, coming to a stop right before her. Mother is a tall, pale and thin woman. Her hair is long and almost seems white. Her dress is black, and she wears a veil over her face held up by what seems almost like a crown._

 _I'd never say it to her face, but I think I must've gotten my looks from Father, whoever he is._

" _There you are, you troublesome thing." The anger in Mother's voice has faded, replaced with cold indifference. I feel like I shouldn't know that yet. In my childishness, I mistake it for playfulness._

" _How has your training proceeded? Surely by now you can handle a few simple wolves, yes?"_

" _Of course, Mother!" I respond immediately. "I've gotten really strong now! Soon even the bears won't be a problem at all!"_

" _Good." Mother responds. She walks into the room I was most recently in and towards one of the many bookshelves. The way she walks is otherworldy, almost as if she weren't human. Mother seems to almost float as she returns to her workstation with a pair of books. I can make out 'Chi" and "era" on their spines. She opens one of the books to a page near the middle and begins sorting some materials she'd hidden under an illusion spell, just to make sure I didn't touch them. It wasn't her true workshop. That one was underground._

" _Umm, Mother?" I ask nervously. "S-since I've gotten so strong, would it be alright if I played outside when Spring arrives? Just for one day? Please?"_

 _My voice sounds pitifully desperate. Mother turns to me and I can make out a flash of anger that crosses her fair face through her veil._

 _I instinctively cringe backwards, trying to keep my face as far away from Mother as possible._

 _It's useless. It always is. I should have known better than to ask._

 _I feel a sting of pain across my face, and my vision fades again._

 **.-.**

Batreaux awoke with a start, air rushing into his lungs, body covered in a cold sweat disturbingly similar to ice. The blond looked around for a moment before realizing he was still on the plane he and Saber had boarded for Fuyuki. He slowly breathed out, casting a glance out the window on his right and running a hand through his hair.

The sea of clouds below him was an enthralling and relaxing sight. He'd never been on a plane before, much less on one heading for Japan. It was mostly an issue of money, but thanks to the generosity of Father Bianchi he and Saber had a fair amount of cash for their trip. It was already in yen and very well hidden in a secret compartment of one of the bags Batreaux had brought, leading to some questions about the connections the priest had.

Checking a watch he'd brought with him, (That didn't contain any secrets, to his knowledge,) he saw it'd been a few hours since he'd fallen asleep. The flight to Fuyuki would likely take a few more, leaving him with time to think on what he'd just dreamed about. Though it would likely still be night in Japan when they arrived.

 _At least, I think that was a dream._ He thought. _What the hell was that all about?_

 _Oh, I should've told you that might happen,_ came Saber's voice over their mental link. Batreaux was a bit startled, but he looked over on his left to see where the Servant was sitting. The blonde looked at him the same way she usually did, leaning her head on one hand. Batreaux noticed Saber's other hand was gripping the armrest of her seat rather tightly, and though she hid it well, he could tell she was shaking slightly.

 _Did you see that too, Saber?_ He asked her gently. Saber nodded in response.

 _Yeah. Servants and Masters can share their memories with each other as dreams._

 _So then, what I dreamt about just now was…_

Saber grimaced, though her left hand had relaxed. She no longer had a chokehold on the armrest. _Yeah. Those were some of my memories from childhood. Heh. Not very pleasant, were they?_

They weren't. It had only been a dream, but even though he had no control over what had happened, Batreaux saw, heard, and most importantly, _felt,_ everything as if he'd been there experiencing it first-hand. Simply put, as far as the dream had gone, he _was_ Mordred.

He felt the cold, the hunger as it had ravaged her body. He felt that all-too familiar mix of joy and fear when Saber's mother, Morgana, entered the castle doors. He felt the pain when that evil witch had dared to strike her child's face.

After spending some time with Mordred and learning she wasn't the cruel would-be tyrant history and legend painted her as, Batreaux admittedly felt on some level that maybe Morgana hadn't been that bad either.

But those doubts were crushed after what he'd just seen. And though the thought sickened him, Mordred's opinion of her family was leading him to now have doubts as to Arthur's heroism.

Batreaux narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth. He felt a kind of anger he hadn't felt in years.

 _Mordred, I'm so sorry you had to go through that._ He felt a mix of emotions come from Saber through their link, and he was sure she could feel the anger he was experiencing as well.

 _H-hey, come on, it wasn't that bad…_

 _I'm sorry Saber,_ he said, _but I just can't believe that. I saw, felt your fear and pain when your mother hit you, the cold and hunger. All of it. Those 'living' conditions were utterly reprehensible._

Batreaux took a deep breath to calm himself and placed a hand on Saber's shoulder. He expected her to swat his hand away like she had when he tried to help her up in the fight with Rider, but she didn't.

 _If… If you ever need to talk about anything, I'll be more than willing to listen._

 _I said drop it, knave._ Saber snapped back, and pushed away his hand with the tone of voice and term that always carried a thinly concealed threat of death.

For the sake of his own well-being, Batreaux complied with the girl prince's wish.

 _Alright then, let's talk about something else. …You know, Saber,_ Batreaux said, changing the subject, _I just remembered I don't speak Japanese._

Mordred just shrugged. _Eh, don't worry about it. If you really need to I can translate for you._

Batreaux turned in his seat to look at Saber and just stared at her. _Okay, you being seventeen when you died I can buy, but how the hell does someone from circa-sixth century Britain know how to speak modern Japanese?_

 _Heroic Spirits get information we need to work in the modern world from the Grail when someone summons us. I assume you can work out how not speakin' the same language as the people where the Grail is would be a problem yeah?_

Batreaux wasn't expecting that, but he wasn't complaining. Though he did find the thought of Mordred Pendragon being a teenage girl that speaks fluent Japanese funnier than he probably should have. What was next, Saber was actually a magical girl like in anime? _Well that's convenient._

 _Yeah. I only got stuff like that though. So I can help you communicate and not be a loudmouthed idiot that gets killed by the Yakuza or something but if you wanna try and pick up some Japanese girl, you're on your own._

 _Heh heh. Thanks,_ Batreaux replied, _But that's not really my type._ Saber grinned in response, the blonde deciding to see if she could get under her Master's skin again.

 _Oh? Am_ I _your type then, Batreaux?_ He smirked back, expecting her to try and fluster him again.

 _Are you saying you want to go on a date, Saber? You know I'm a commoner right?_

Saber flushed red and punched him in the arm. Relatively lightly, considering what she was capable of, but still hard enough to hurt and make her Master cry out a bit, which drew some weird looks from some of the other passengers on the flight. _Idiot._ She said.

 _Anyway,_ Batreaux began, rubbing his arm where Saber slugged him, _I'm kinda worried about Elise. She didn't come home at all today. I left a note saying we'd be going out of town, but I'm not sure if she'd buy that excuse or not._

Saber crossed her left leg over her right and leaned back in her seat. _Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about her._ Batreaux raised an eyebrow.

 _Why's that?_

 _Because your roommate is Rider's Master._ Saber stated. An amused grin crossed her face upon seeing Batreaux's shock. _What? You didn't notice? The energy Rider gave off was the same as what I felt in the apartment, and she has Command Seals._

Saber flagged down a stewardess and grabbed some peanuts from a snack cart, an action she would soon regret. After chewing some of the airline 'food', Saber's face screwed up in displeasure. She spat the peanuts back into the bag and hid it under her seat.

 _Bleh! That crap tastes worse than the shit Gawain liked! The hell?_

Batreaux had been staring down at the floor of the plane, oblivious to Saber trying to scrub her tongue on her jacket. _I think I knew since I got home that night, I just didn't want to admit it. Elise is one of the few people I can trust. I just don't want to think about fighting her. Luckily, we both seem to be on the same side._

 _You know that's not gonna last right?_ Saber asked him. _Once the Blue Faction's dealt with, she'll be our enemy again. Can you handle that?_

… _Yeah, I can. Thanks Saber. I think I can trust you._

 _Oi, don't go soft on me now Batreaux, we've still got work to do. ….But anyway, you should get some more rest. I can't make any promises, but hopefully you won't have any more… dreams._

 _Yeah, good idea._

With renewed confidence in and sympathy for his combination Servant and lord, Batreaux drifted back off to sleep as he awaited their arrival to the battlefield, this time untroubled by visions of the past.

 **.-.**

Archer of Red's physical form reconstituted itself as the power of his Master's Command Spell wore off. The feeling of teleportation was certainly an odd one. The cloaked bowman breathed out some smoke from his cigarette and walked forwards to the doors of the opulent mansion his Master called home.

 _Well,_ he thought, _Miss Jesse's only got two left. Gotta admit, it's ironic for me of all people to be working for some rich brat, but that's life, I guess._

A woman with long turquoise hair in an expensive suit stood waiting for him in front of a marble pillar holding up part of the mansion. She looked towards her Servant, eyes hidden by sunglasses much like his were hidden by his hood. "Welcome back, Archer. Did you complete your mission?"

Archer shrugged his shoulders as he approached his Master. "You know I did, Miss. Otherwise you wouldn't have called me back with a Command Spell. By the way, are you sure you should be using them for things like that?"

The woman's expression did not change and she did not answer as she opened the door and the two stepped inside. The interior of the mansion was decorated with gold. An extraordinarily excessive amount of gold that would make even King Midas jealous. The lady Jesse served had quite expensive tastes. The sheer amount of wasted money irritated Archer to no end, even if he had gotten used to it by now.

Archer and his Master passed by a painting of their boss' late father, a man named Vinny, as they ascended the stairs towards her office. The woman in question had inherited the family…. business after he passed away from Terminal Seven the previous year. Her lack of surprise or sadness at the news had led several of her employees to question whether it was really the disease that did him in. But they suspected voicing those concerns would lead to their disappearance, and so remained quiet.

The door to her office was guarded by a man with short violet hair in the same manner of dress as Jesse, his Command Seals also obscured by gloves, his eyes also by sunglasses. He stepped to the side and gave a nod to the pair as he saw his partner approach.

"Lady Rachel is waiting inside for your report, Archer. For all our sakes, bring her good news."

Archer waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, James. By the way, how's Berserker doing?"

"Which one?"

"The one that can actually talk to us and doesn't just scream some dead guy's name over and over."

"Beowulf is currently training the rest of Lady Rachel's bodyguards in combat tactics. They've made quite remarkable progress."

"With all due respect, gentlemen," Jesse chimed in, "We shouldn't keep Lady Rachel waiting. You specifically said there was something special she needed to hear in this report, so she will be most anxious to do so."

"Alright then." Archer pulled the cigarette he'd been smoking away from his mouth and crushed it his hand before placing the ashes inside a small pouch around his belt. The poisons and chemicals in the item had no effect on him and Servants like him, but he figured they'd be great for dealing with mortal enemies. And with a little bit of refinement and mana, well, who knows?

Archer stepped into the dark room that was Rachel's office. Just like the rest of her mansion, gold was everywhere, reflecting and refracting what little light was present throughout the room and leaving it brighter than a similar room decorated with less flashy materials would have been.

The woman in question sat in a revolving chair, a glass of wine in her right hand. Her long brown hair was draped over her right shoulder and she wore a ruby colored dress designed to highlight her beautiful features.

Rachel did not possess any Command Seals. What she did possess was a large amount of resources and foresight. While not exactly cautious, she knew enough about Magecraft and Servants to take measures against potential betrayal from the heroes her bodyguards had summoned, especially since she'd willingly left herself alone with one that likely would not be amused by her frivolity with wealth.

A powerful Bounded Field had been set around her mansion, with another set around her office, and yet another around her desk. On their own, these fields were fairly standard, but if a Servant were to pass through all three of them the combined weakening effects would prove quite problematic for them, and Archer wasn't a head-on fighter to begin with. Being a Servant, he'd still have an advantage over Rachel in combat, of course, but she'd have enough time to contact Jesse and have the woman restrain Archer with a Command Seal. Or worse, if she felt like it.

A lifetime growing up in a mage family that specialized in "behind the scenes" work had left Rachel privy to a large amount of information. She knew a Master could make new contracts should they lose their Servant and if they had enough mana to manage without the Grail's help, even summon more than one at a time.

And Archer knew he was expendable. Quite simply, unlike with her father, it was not loyalty that kept Rachel's employees in line.

"Archer. You've finished the task I gave you yes? I'm curious what the results of your investigation are. Especially the… 'unexpected interloper', was it?"

Archer sat down in the chair in front of Rachel's desk, careful to avoid the third of her Bounded Fields. "I'll give you the good news first," the hooded Servant began, "I've figured out who all the other Servants on our team are. The Assassin is Charles-Henri Sanson. The Rider calls himself Georgios, and the Saber is Mordred."

"So you did not finish the task after all Archer. You have not mentioned the identities of Caster and Lancer." Rachel narrowed her eyes and her voice took on a darker tone. "If you cannot even handle simple reconnaissance work, why should I not have Jesse dispose of you right now?"

Archer was unfazed by the threat and simply smirked. "Because the bad news is also the interesting news. Saber's Master is a man named Batreaux Westwood."

Rachel's eyes widened and she nearly choked on her wine. Not a pleasant experience to begin with, the sudden rush of a drink meant to be enjoyed slowly worsened her mood even more.

Or it would have, had she not been in temporary shock processing the new information. "Did you say Westwood, Archer? Batreaux Westwood? That pathetic worm was considered worthy by the grail?"

"Yep." Archer was enjoying Rachel's discomfort. It provided a nice substitute for what he really wanted to do with the mansion.

"And his Servant is Mordred, yes? I suppose it's only fitting someone like him would summon the Knight of Treachery." Rachel smiled and put on a more playful tone to her voice. "But Archer, why would you lie to me? You said that was the bad news, but it seemed more like good news to me."

Archer raised his eyebrows. He'd clearly misjudged what type of girl his Master's boss was when he assumed she'd be upset with this development.

"After all…" she continued with a wicked smile on her face, "Not everyone gets a chance to take revenge on the man who broke her heart, and I intend to make that fool _suffer_ for it."

 **.-.**

Meanwhile, outside of Rachel's office, James was trying to make small talk with his partner.

"So, we've been working for Rachel about a year now," the violet haired man began, "How would ya say she's been doing compared to her dad so far?"

Jesse simply stared straight forwards, the turquoise haired woman not moving an inch as she responded. "We spent over a decade working for Sir Vinny. It wouldn't be fair to judge Lady Rachel against his experience."

James waved his right hand. "Yeah, I know, but after a year you still get a general feel for how competent someone is, right?" Beneath her sunglasses, Jesse closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yes, and Lady Rachel has proven herself quite capable of running this business. I understand your skepticism, and we all miss Sir Vinny dearly, but we do not need to worry about anything."

 _So long as we stay in line and don't question anything she says, sure._ "I don't know, maybe I just miss him a bit more than everyone else does. That man was someone special, ya know? The kind of guy you could just have a beer with and talk. Vinny was a real 'people' person." James shook his head and continued. "Rachel on the other hand? She's cold. Effective, but cold. You may not want to admit it, Jesse, but most of the people still alive here are only working for her cause they don't got a choice."

Jesse finally moved, turning her head to look at her partner. One could almost feel the room get colder as she stared at him. "Are you planning to betray Lady Rachel, James?" The violet haired man held up his arms and stepped back.

"Whoa now, let's not start talking crazy, Jesse. I may have liked her dad better, but I _also_ like my blood being warm, you know what I'm saying?"

"Good. You seem to have your priorities in order."

James lowered his arms and clenched his right hand into a fist, a slight burning sensation emanating from his Command Seals. He'd have to make sure he saved one of them. After another few moments of planning, he widened his eyes slightly in realization. There was something important he needed to ask Jesse, regardless of his personal motivations.

"Oh, I almost forgot. We're eventually going to need to deal with that little 'side effect' of Berserker's summoning. Have you thought of anything yet Jesse?"

The cold woman nodded slightly. "Yes." She responded. "There's nothing to worry about. When the time comes, we will be fully prepared to handle it."

 **.-.**

 _ **Fuyki, later that night**_

"Ahahahahaha! I win again, Saber!"

The voice of Berserker of Blue's Master, Illyasviel von Einzbern joyously rang out through her room, said hulking behemoth roaring alongside her. The silver haired girl jumped up and down, her red eyes shining. There was little trace of the loosely-contained psychosis she would so often and freely display before. It seemed that talking things out with Shirou instead of trying to kill him and learning that yes, their father did love her after all, had greatly helped in improving the aristocrat's mood.

Though, she'd technically also learned that her grandfather had lied to her, likely because Kiritsugu wouldn't have approved of the hellish experiments and trials the rest of the Einzbern family had forced his daughter through. Oh, Illya had plans to make Old Man Acht pay… but that could wait. _First Berserker and I have to crush those mean Red Masters coming here to hurt my big brother!_

Arturia chuckled lightly at Illya's antics, the sound like the song of an angel. "Yes, you did Illya. I don't think I'll ever be as good at this game as you are." Normally the former king would have been irritated at the least by her repeated losses, but this time was different. Arturia was quite surprised when she learned Illya was the daughter of Illyasviel von Einzbern, her dear friend and proxy Master in the Fourth Holy Grail War.

She'd also since learned from her current Master Shirou that her previous, the boy's adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya, wasn't cold and unfeeling like he'd led her to believe. Or maybe the man had simply warmed up after adopting Shirou.

 _Perhaps I have misjudged Kiritsugu,_ she had thought to herself. Though she couldn't disagree more with the methods the legendary Magus Killer had used in the time spent as her Master, since being summoned by Shirou and seeing the kind of person Kiritsugu had raised him to be, Arturia had to admit to herself that at their base, purest form, the dreams they carried were similar.

Regardless, the realization had put her mind at ease a bit, and so for the moment Arturia was simply enjoying the time she spent with Shirou and his sister. It had been… far too long since she had a chance to simply relax like a normal person. Then again, Arturia supposed she _wasn't_ a person, at least so far as the word's definition overlapped with 'human'.

Illya's laughter finally died down and she turned to look past Saber at Shirou. Originally, Illya wanted her big brother to sit next to her, but Saber had insisted otherwise, citing her 'duty as a Servant' to protect her Master. Illya was disappointed but ultimately relented. After all, she _had_ tried to kill them recently, and Berserker felt the same way about _his_ duty to Illya.

"Big brother, I want you to play with me now!"

"Sorry Illya," the red head replied, "But I don't know the first thing about this game." In truth, Shirou knew barely anything about video games in general. They weren't really something he spent a lot of time on. He was willing to learn if Illya wanted to play with him, (Partly for his own safety,) but he'd prefer to do that on his own time.

"Awwww, please!" Illya pouted. "Saber's gotten too boring to beat, Berserker's hands are too big to hold the controller, and Sella and Leysritt always just let me win!" Saber opened her mouth to protest in response but was drowned out by Berserker's roar. The Greek hero's legendary strength even extended to his lungs, as the roar was so loud even Arturia was forced to cover her ears. When Berserker finally stopped roaring, Illya looked over to where Herakles had moved.

Behind the window he was in front of was one of Rin's gemstone familiars, the bird shaped rock bumping itself into the glass over and over, making a little 'tink' sound every time. Before the others in the room could process the sight, Herakles shot his fist through the window and grabbed the familiar.

Elsewhere in the castle Illya called home, one of her maids, Sella, shot up from dusting off a chair, as if she could instinctually sense the glass shattering. The more emotional of the maid pair's eye began to twitch.

Back with Illya, Shirou, and their Servants, Herakles crushed the familiar Rin had sent effortlessly in his hand, then gave his Master a crumpled up ball of paper that had been attached to it, a fine dust falling off of his giant hand.

Illya blinked twice before accepting the ball. "Thank you, Berserker." The giant gave a low rumble in acknowledgement.

The silver haired girl uncrumpled the ball of paper and began to read it, red eyes darting left and right. "Oh, this is a letter from Rin. Ahuhuhuhu~ Of course, a familiar that crude could only belong to a Tohsaka mage." Shirou became interested upon hearing the letter was from Rin. The brunette hadn't spoken to him recently. He suspected she was still mad about him forming an alliance with Caster.

"From Rin? What's it say, Illya?"

"Hmhm. Read it yourself, big brother." Illya handed the letter to Shirou, who smoothed out the wrinkles from where Berserker had crumpled it a bit more before reading it aloud.

 _Emiya and Enzbern,_

 _Though the circumstances of our current alliance cause me no end of displeasure, it is in all of our best interests, myself included, to pass on this message._

 _Recently, Archer located a Master and Servant of the Red Faction here in Fuyuki. Archer first noticed the two as they were leaving the Church, presumably to check in with Kirei. However, they were quickly approached by Lancer and after a short battle were forced to retreat._

"Lancer!? That guy's already made a move on the Red Faction?" Shirou recalled his encounters with Lancer of Blue, both on the same night. The first ended with him unceremoniously stabbed in the heart. The second ended much better, though only due to Lancer's Master recalling him. Saber was amazing as a Servant, at least to Shirou, but thanks to Lancer's Noble Phantasm, he'd clearly had the advantage.

"It would seem so, Shirou," Saber spoke up. "It is likely similar events as when I fought with him occurred for this new pair of Master and Servant. If I recall correctly, Lancer said he had orders to merely test me in our first encounter." Shirou nodded in agreement with his Servant and continued to read Rin's message.

 _After Lancer left the scene, Archer used his arrows to drive the pair towards the bridge over Mion River. They appear to believe they are safe for now, as Archer can confirm they are still on the bridge._

"Ahuhuhu~ The bridge over Mion River, hmmmm?" Illya's red eyes glinted and a sinister smirk spread across the young German's face. "Well Berserker, what do you say we go finish those two fools off and teach them some manners, hmm?" The towering giant roared in agreement and hoisted his tiny Master onto his back before the pair took off through the hole in the wall that was formerly a window, Illya laughing gleefully. Sure, the Giant Bridge was almost on the opposite side of the city, but with Berserker's speed, they would arrive much sooner than expected.

"Illya wait!" Shirou called out to his sister. "There's still more to the letter-" But he was not fast enough to prevent her and Berserker from heading into the night in search of their prey.

" _sigh_ "

"Shirou, would you mind finishing Rin's letter?" Saber asked. The blonde swordswoman was unusually focused, her emerald eyes focused on the exit hole Berserker had made. "There may be information on who this mysterious Servant of Red is." If she were younger, less experienced, Arturia might have dismissed the chill she felt as simply the winter air. But Arturia Pendragon, the experienced warrior and ruler, the Once and Future King of Britain, knew better. The chill in the air was familiar to her somehow.

"Sure, Saber. We need to finish up here anyway. I don't want to be around when Sella finds the hole in the wall."

 _From the information Archer has gathered, the Servant of Red Lancer battled with seems to be a female of the Saber class. They are skilled with their weapon, yet prefer to swing around wildly like you'd expect from a Berserker class Servant instead. The Master is a Caucasian male, and inexperienced as a mage. It's likely his lack of experience is weakening his Servant like yours is, Emiya._

 _Originally I was also going to give you and Einzbern the go-ahead to eliminate them at this point, but Archer said something about this Servant interests him enough he wants to fight them personally. So, this time, just stay out of it, Emiya._

 _Warmest regards,_

 _Rin_

Shirou finished the letter and looked over to Saber, who had changed into her blue dress/armor combination outfit. "Well, Saber," he said. "Rin said to stay out of this, but Illya just ran off to fight. I know she can handle herself, I know Berserker's incredibly strong, and I know Archer's there, but…" His right hand clenched into a fist.

"Shirou," Saber began, "As your Servant, it is my duty to protect you from harm. Thus, I must insist we heed Rin's warning, and stay away from this fight. That said, I understand that even if Illya were not your sister, you would want to do anything you can to keep her safe." The former king drew forth her holy blade, still wrapped in her spell of Invisible Air.

"And so, if you wish to follow Illya into this battle anyway, I will not stop you. But I must urge caution. Even with Archer's report, we know very little of this Servant of Red's abilities."

Shirou smiled. "Thank you, Saber. Don't worry. We'll be careful."

And so Saber of Blue and her Master chased after their ally, to the area Archer of Blue said one of their enemies lay weakened.

 **.-.**

Meanwhile, Ruler arrives at the forest on Mount Enzou, the saintess fully focused on the gates to Ryuudou Temple. An indigo haired samurai awaits, his robes and hair billowing gently in the wind as falling leaves sunder in two around him. The violet haired Overseer steps forward towards him with divine grace.

"Well now, what have we here? I assume you are the Ruler I heard would be coming to visit?"

"That I am, Assassin of Blue." Saint Martha responded. "Now then. There are a few questions I would ask of you and your Master."

Assassin smiled and drew forth his sword. "If it is answers you seek, Ruler, then you will have to best me first." Ruler's face twisted into an angered scowl.

"You seek a fight with me, Assassin? You realize in doing so you are violating the rules of this Holy Grail War?"

"That I do, Ruler. But humor me, if you will. It isn't often I meet someone who can give me a real challenge." Assassin settled into a combat stance, light of the moon reflecting off of his blade beautifully and menacingly. The breeze that had been flowing through the forest halted. For a tense few minutes, all was quiet. Then, Assassin spoke once more.

"And you, Ruler… have a head worth taking."

 **.-.**

 **Fate/stay night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 5: The War Begins**

 **.-.**

 **I would once more like to apologize for how long this took to get out. In addition to the previously mentioned issues, I haven't really been feeling well as of late. That said, I have a basic structure already planned out for the next chapter so that one won't take this absurdly long. There's like 3 fight scenes in it so we'll see how good I really am at those. I really, really, really hope I got the scenes with Mordred and Batreaux right, specifically her memories, and I really hope Shirou and Arturia were mostly in character.**

 **Anyway, questions/comments/concerns in the review should you decide to leave one.**

 **Good luck to anyone trying to summon Mordred or Fran in F/GO NA, by the way.**


	6. Red vs Blue: Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or other related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **A/N: Awww yes, more holidays to slow me down! Seriously though, I should be faster with these soon enough. Thanks for your patience everyone.**

 **On Reviews:**

 **-KnightOfZaku: Yep, Batreaux seems to attract dangerous women into his life. It is indeed time for the first big clash between Red and Blue. It took me literally everything I had to roll Mordred in F/GO, but I did. Got her to LV 100 with max Fous.**

 **-narutofan020: At first glance, the Blue Faction's definitely got an advantage. Caster of Red's betrayal certainly doesn't help there. But, one of the Red Faction's Servants still has plenty of secrets…**

 **On PMs (Not a big deal, just a bit unexpected compared to a review.):**

 **-ZangetsuOldMan: Affinity and Origin, eh? Not sure about revealing his Origin. If I do it isn't going to be some kind of 'grand destiny' kind of thing. I'm trying to write Batreaux as kind of a guy who just happened to be in the right (or wrong) circumstances to get dragged into a Grail War. Affinity isn't really going to affect anything in the story though, so yeah, it's Fire. You'd think Mordred would be connected to Fire, being part dragon and all, but I don't know if it's her fairy blood from Morgana or what, but apparently Mordred's more connected to Lightning. Though, fire and lightning are both forms of plasma, so I suppose you are technically correct, the best kind of correct.**

 **-Devin Sands: Glad to hear you like the story so far. I basically just remembered that Herakles wouldn't be able to beat Caster like Rin thought in UBW because of the bond of 'sacred hospitality' he shares with her and thought 'Shirou can use this to try and stop the fighting' if for whatever reason he decided/was tricked into making an alliance with Caster. As for why I chose Mordred? She's my favorite Fate character.**

 **I've wasted enough of your time, let's begin.**

 **.-.**

Saber of Red yawned loudly as she and her Master walked through the southeast outskirts of Fuyuki City. The night air was cold and crisp, something she did not take notice of due to her status as a Heroic Spirit. Batreaux on the other hand was beginning to regret not taking a thicker jacket with him. The blond was visibly uncomfortable, though onlookers such as his Servant would likely mistake it for nerves. Understandable, given the current situation. The pair were walking straight into the middle of a literal warzone, where seven superpowered heroes of the past lay in wait to claim their lives.

Batreaux himself was silently thankful for his Servant's apparent immunity to weather conditions. After what he'd experienced in Mordred's memories/his dream world, he learned she didn't take very kindly to winter, snow, cold, etc. So the longer she was oblivious to the cold, the longer she'd be in top condition. Or something like that, anyway.

"Ah, man, it's great to finally be out of that plane," Saber said, stretching her arms above her head and shirt above her navel. Batreaux didn't really have a problem with how Mordred chose to dress, after all she did pick from his clothing, but it would cause them to stand out even more than they already did. The sight of two foreigners with blond(e) hair would bring them enough attention as it stood. Plus, he was curious as to what the local fashions were in Fuyuki. He resolved to take Saber shopping once they got settled in. He needed a new jacket anyway.

"Eh, I didn't really have too bad a time," Batreaux responded. "Kinda surprising for it being the first time I've ever been in a plane."

"Yeah, well, aside from our little discussion, you were asleep the whole time."

"What, did you have trouble getting back to sleep, Saber?" Batreaux asked, slightly concerned. All things considered, Batreaux and Saber didn't really know each other too well yet. If he had to, he'd say they were acquaintances at best. Still, that didn't mean he was going to turn a blind eye to any discomfort his partner might be experiencing.

"You could say that," Saber replied. Reliving a traumatic moment from her past like that was unpleasant to say the least, and Mordred had a feeling that wouldn't be the only time. "But really, it was just so _boring_ most of the time. There was, like, one interesting thing." Saber took a moment to push some of her blonde hair out of her face. An inconvenience her Master often shared when the wind blew from behind.

"Oh? And what was that?" Batreaux asked as an old, seemingly abandoned building came into view.

The building was in actuality a three story tall mansion, made of red brick and surprisingly built in a western style. Despite its age, the mansion was well put together. It was likely a wealthy foreigner had it built to use as a sort of vacation home, yet at the moment it stood empty and dark. Or so it seemed. The high concentration of trees surrounding the building did not help to lighten that perception, and as the wind moaned through the creaking, aged branches Batreaux found himself on guard.

"There were these two really tough looking guys a couple seats behind us," Saber said in response to her Master's question. "One of 'em looked real serious and had a grey suit. The other looked kinda insane, he had an eyepatch and wasn't wearing a shirt under his jacket, I think. I think they might've been Yakuza, the crazy one said something I caught as 'Heading back to Kamurocho to bust some heads.'"

Saber's head turned to look at what Batreaux was and caught sight of the mansion as well. Immediately she got the same feeling he did- particularly that something wasn't right about it. Even from as far off as they were, the two could feel some kind of odd presence inside the building. Was it haunted? They thought at the same time. Batreaux could've sworn he saw eyes staring back at him from the top floor and a massive chill slithered down his spine. The novice magus silently increased his pace and Mordred followed, both wanting to get as far away from the mansion as possible.

However, Mordred sensed something else that Batreaux failed to notice. Due to her unique parentage, Mordred had the blood of both fairies and dragons coursing through her veins, which gave her a nearly unprecedented sensitivity to magical energy. And what she felt flowing out of the 'abandoned' mansion was an absolutely enormous amount of magical energy.

 _Damn, I haven't felt something that strong since Mother and that jackass Merlin,_ Saber thought to herself. Batreaux may have been content to say the mansion was haunted and leave it at that, but Mordred knew better now. Even assuming the menacing abode _was_ haunted, there was another presence. No living magus could possibly hold that much power, so there was only one possibility for what the source could be.

A Servant.

… _Though it_ does _feel a bit more like Merlin's energy than Mother's._ Saber silently hoped whatever Servant radiated the energy was on their side.

 **.-.**

Unknown to him, Batreaux had been correct when he thought he felt something watching him from inside the mansion. However, it had not been a ghost, and the building was not abandoned. Rather, the mansion was currently in use as a temporary base of operations for one of the other Masters. The figure watched Batreaux and Saber of Red until they were no longer within his line of sight.

Lancer of Red's Master was a highly experienced magus at forty five years of age. The man had flowing blond hair that reached down to his waist, and he was dressed in a pitch-black suit he'd personally crafted to use in his work. He usually took freelance work as a sort of magical mercenary, but on this occasion, he'd been hired to retrieve the Holy Grail for the Clocktower. The suit doubled as his Mystic Code, Ars Arcanum.

 _Lancer._ He called out to his Servant mentally, grey eyes locked onto a notepad where he kept the results of his and Lancer's observations so far.

 _What's up, Boss?_ Came his Servant's response, an ever-present tone of joviality and mischief in the voice.

 _It seems a pair of our allies have arrived in Fuyuki. Follow them and make sure to keep them safe for now._

 _Heehee! You got it, Boss!_ Lancer of Red's presence disappeared from the mansion in the blink of an eye. Lancer's Master was still unused to his Servant's speed or wild nature, but for now they would come in handy. What little he had gleaned of the pair that recently passed by his temporary home was promising. Though the Master clearly lacked experience and power, the Servant held both. It was unfortunate she was being held back, but that limitation could be worked around.

Yes… it was imperative Lancer keep the two safe as long as possible. Lancer of Red's Master looked back over the notes he'd been able to take so far. They were disappointingly thin. So far they only had information on one of the enemy Servants, Caster of Blue. Still, what they did know was interesting. Caster was a powerful witch from the Age of the Gods that far outstripped even other Caster class Servants.

However, as Lancer could attest, she was not very good at dealing with scenarios that deviate from her predictions. Being in the Lancer class left the Servant with limited access to most of their own magecraft, but their knowledge of the mystic arts and far superior speed was more than enough to humiliate the witch.

That said, Lancer of Red's Master learned his lesson about underestimating opponents more than a decade ago. Caster of Blue would have to be dealt with before she got an opportunity to become an actual threat. For now, though…

 _Lancer._ He called out to his Servant again. _Do not directly involve yourself in any battles of theirs. Feel free to deal with any threats they haven't come in range of yet, but once Saber and her Master begin combat, stay out of it. Coddling them won't do any good._

He could only trust his Servant wouldn't feel like going on a rebellious streak.

 **.-.**

After more walking and struggling with the cold, Batreaux and Saber finally arrived at their destination, the Fuyuki Church. Personally, Batreaux had wanted to head into the city proper and maybe hitch a ride on a bus to try and get out of the cold for a bit, but Mordred convinced him to just cut through the forest after they could no longer see the mansion. Batreaux was terrified the entire time, and with good reason.

"So why were you scared shitless of cutting through the forest again, Batreaux?" Saber asked as the pair approached the church, which the magus noted was identical in construction to Father Bianchi's church aside from materials.

"Let's just say I had a very unsettling encounter with a certain creature that will not be named while on a camping trip a few years ago."

Saber rolled her eyes at him. _So he's always been spineless._ "Oh please, I'm scarier than anything we're gonna find in these woods. Now hurry up and go talk to this second priest or whatever." Saber put her hands in the pockets of her jacket and leaned back against one of the pillars supporting the church's foundation, one foot resting on the pillar as well. Batreaux nodded and headed into the church.

Immediately the atmosphere changed as the solid oak doors creaked shut behind him. A dark, oppressive feeling washed over Batreaux. This feeling matched the lighting, as he noticed a single candle was lit at the far end of the room past the pews, on the podium behind which the priest would deliver sermons.

 _Man,_ he thought to himself as he approached the dark robed man awaiting him, _Compared to Father Bianchi's, this place feels more like a torture chamber than a church._ The man in question was the priest of Fuyuki's church and Overseer of the Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine. The brown haired man smiled as Batreaux approached.

"Welcome, oh lost and weary soul. What is your business here at this time of night?" The priest's voice put Batreaux further on edge. Still, he did not let his apprehension show. The blond simply pulled his right hand out from his jacket pocket and displayed his three Command Seals, in the shape of a knight's helmet. Batreaux now realized the helmet vaguely resembled Mordred's own horned one.

The priest smiles again. "Ahh. You must be a Master of Red, here to compete for the Holy Grail. You should be interested to know you are the first to check in with me."

Batreaux blinked in shock. "Uh, really? I'm the only one that's made it here?"

Kirei chuckled lightly. "No. You are in fact the fourth of your team to arrive in Fuyuki. However, you _are_ the only one to come see me. The other three Masters must not have thought revealing themselves to be a good idea."

Batreaux clenched his teeth and cursed mentally. _Damn it, I should've thought of that. For all I know someone from the Blue Faction might've seen my Command Seals and tailed us here!"_

"Well, we all make mistakes," Kirei said, snapping the younger man out of his thoughts. Batreaux noticed a hint of condescension in the priest's voice. "After all, this _is_ the first time you've been in a situation like this. You do understand what's at stake here, do you not?"

 _Oooh, you and I ain't gonna like each other. What's with your attitude?_

"Yeah, I do. If me and my Servant win, we get a wish from the Holy Grail." Batreaux said, a scowl on the blond's face. Candlelight danced in the reflection of his glasses, giving the appearance of a burning fire in his grey eyes. In contrast, Kirei's darker eyes appeared almost black in the darkness. The priest smiles again.

"Oh?" he begins. "In that case, you should rejoice, boy. Very few are given the privilege you have. A wish from the Grail could make your deepest fantasies into reality."

Batreaux scoffed. "You call killing twenty six other people to get a wish from a counterfeit cup like that a 'privilege'?

"Indeed I do," Kirei responded. "Whether the Grail is genuine or not is irrelevant. Its power is very real. Such power could turn the world into a new Eden, if you so desired."

"Then why hasn't anyone done that yet? There've been other wars, right? Surely _one_ of the winners was a bleeding heart?"

"Simple. None of the previous wars ended with a decisive winner."

"Yeah? I wonder why. Now if you'll excuse me, _Father,_ " Batreaux spat, "My Servant and I have work to do." He turned to walk back down the aisle between the pews, but stopped halfway when Kirei's voice called out to him again.

"One more thing. What is the class of your Servant?" Batreaux simply stared back at Kirei. He'd already made a mistake by coming here, that much was evident by the priest's attitude. Batreaux had no more interest in speaking to the man, but it seemed Kirei either didn't understand that, or simply didn't care. "I need to make note of which Masters have come to check in. It's one of my duties as the Overseer, you see."

"Saber." With that, Batreaux hurried the rest of the way down the aisle and out the doors of the church, one of the heavy oak doors slamming shut behind him. Kirei smirked to himself.

"Twenty six? So, you consider your Servant to be something more than a tool. Very well then, Red Master Saber. Let's see just what you and your Servant are capable of."

 _Get them, Lancer._

 _Yeah, yeah, I got it. Let me guess, you just want me to test them this time._

 _But of course._

 **.-.**

Saber of Red stopped leaning on the church pillar and turned her head towards the door after hearing it slam shut. Her combination Master and subordinate had an angry expression on his face, and the blond was muttering under his breath. Saber raised her eyebrows slightly at the sight.

"You seem upset. What, did the priest not speak English or something?" she asked. Batreaux took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Nah, he spoke English. I would've been kinda surprised if he couldn't. The problem is he seems to think this is all just a game." Saber nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. I've always hated fools like that. Regardless of what you think of 'em, human lives aren't something to treat like a toy." Master and Servant smiled at each other. It seemed they'd managed to understand each other a bit better after the brief exchange of words. The smiles on their faces quickly faded however, as a voice called out to them from the church roof.

"So you're both taking this war seriously then? Good." A man with long blue hair tied back into a ponytail, blue stone earrings and a blue jumpsuit like outfit jumped down from the roof of the church and over their heads. When he stood back up Saber and Batreaux got a better look at the man. A serious yet disinterested look was on his face, and all the blue he wore was contrasted by his piercing crimson eyes- and his piercing crimson spear.

Batreaux was stunned for a moment by the man's appearance. He was about to speak, but Mordred was slightly faster than he was.

"Alright, what's your class, Blue? It's clear from your stupid getup you're a Servant like me."

"Please, shouldn't it be obvious from my weapon?"

Saber Smirked and crossed her arms. "Oh? Let's see…" she said, putting on a look of fake confusion and tilting her head towards the sky. "Could it be Archer? Caster? Rider? Berserker? Assass-"

Faster than he could blink, the man's spear thrust forward, aimed directly at Batreaux's heart. The magus' eyes widened in shock and he stumbled backwards. He had survived the attack. Just as fast as the other Servant had struck, Saber shot out her hand and caught hold of the weapon mere inches away from her Master.

"Oi, oi. Just what do you think you're doing?" Saber asked, left hand now covered by her gauntlet. "I don't recall giving you permission to touch my property. Now then, you can't be Saber- that's me. So you must be Lancer."

"Is stating the obvious one of your class skills, Saber." Lancer said, effortlessly pulling his spear back out of Saber's grasp. "A bit slower than I expected, though. And a lot less observant. I've been watching you two since you arrived here. If I wanted I could have killed you and your Master at least twelve times by now."

"Heh. Why don't you prove it then, Lancer?" Saber taunted, a burst of flame covering the rest of her body with her armor, minus head. Clarent faded into existence and fell into her right hand. Lancer took a combat stance, spear held between his own hands.

"I must say, this Grail War's been pretty strange so far. I didn't expect _both_ of the Saber class Servants to be little girls."

Mordred's expression hardened and she glared at Lancer. With the tell-tale series of metallic clangs her helmet constructed itself. She raised Clarent to her side.

"I see you're looking to die again, Lancer." She said, voice distorted by the magic of her armor. Lancer's red eyes drifted to the side, coming to rest on Batreaux, who'd been watching on in tense silence.

"Hey you, the Master over there," he said. "I'll be nice this time and won't kill you until I've done in your Servant, so back up a bit, alright?" Batreaux mentally breathed a sigh of relief and gladly stepped back a few more feet. A few more moments of silence played out, Lancer and Saber each waiting to see who would make the first move.

Saber's impatience got the best of her, and she shot forwards towards Lancer with Clarent held high. When she thought she was in range, she smashed down towards Lancer with her blade, only to find it rebuffed by his spear. She tried a head-on charge several more times, each one swinging Clarent from different angles and directions, only to find herself rebuffed each and every time.

 _Damn it!_ She thought. _I need to get in close to take away his range advantage!_

 _It's not gonna work._ Batreaux thought to himself. _Lancer's spear gives him a range of three meters to work with. If she wants to do anything, Saber's going to need to force him to make a move instead._ Lancer stepped forward and swung his spear up from the left. Saber, who'd been anticipating a thrust, stepped in to try and slash at Lancer's neck, only for the crimson weapon of her enemy to smash into her armored ribs instead.

"Ghhh!" Saber staggered back in pain, almost dropping to one knee. Her armor had protected her from most of the blow's force, but Lancer's savage, beast-like strength still made it hurt like hell. Lancer took advantage of her temporary vulnerability to rush forward again. Saber readied her blade to block the swing, but instead Lancer stabbed his spear straight down onto the ground and used the momentum to vault into the air and over Saber's head.

"What?!" Saber twisted around just in time to block another swing from Lancer's spear with her sword, a smirk on the blue haired Servant's face. The ground cracked under Saber's feet from the force of the collision. Eventually Lancer pulled back from the deadlock, and the force Saber had been putting into pushing him back sent her falling to the ground.

Lancer swung his spear around in his hand before placing the bladed end at Saber's neck. "Looks like I win. At least our Saber put up more of a fight." Mordred retracted her helmet and growled at Lancer, teeth bared.

"Don't get too cocky, jackass! I ain't finished yet!" She drove her right hand against the ground, fingertips pressing into the concrete. Glowing bolts of scarlet lightning arced out from her fingers towards Lancer and shot up into the sky once they were beneath him. The spearman leapt away as fast as his agility would allow, just a moment too late. A single bolt of lightning managed to strike out and burn his right cheek.

Lancer rubbed his cheek with one hand before glaring back at Saber, who'd accepted Batreaux's help in standing back up this time. Her left arm was draped over his shoulders, metal armor uncomfortably pressing into his back.

"That was a pretty clever move, Saber," Lancer said. "I didn't expect you to know magic." The warrior was now standing on the other side of one of the hedges that lined the path leading up to Kirei's church.

 _Neither did I._ Batreaux said through his link with Saber.

… _My mom's a witch, you idiot. Of course I know a little magic._ She responded. _Though now I know I not to just rush in against this guy._

 _Hey, Saber. I've got an idea. Can you get him into the air again, facing me this time?_

 _Maybe. Whatever this plan of yours is, it better work._

Saber rushed forwards again, this time having woven a small chain out of her magical energy and connected it to Clarent. Stopping her charge just outside of Lancer's range, she threw her sword at his head, straight as an arrow. Lancer effortlessly dodged to the side, and Saber pulled back on the magical chain. To Lancer, it looked as if she was cursing at herself.

"Nice try, Saber. Too bad I've got a little skill called 'Protection From Arrows'. It lets me avoid any projectile attack, and now you don't have your weapon!" In truth, Lancer actually avoided projectiles by detecting the disturbances the made in the air, and he couldn't use the skill to avoid explosives. Saber didn't need to know that, though.

Lancer's spear began to glow with red energy, and he lunged forwards even faster than before. Saber's eyes widened in shock as he easily knocked her into the air with the blunt end of his weapon, then viciously twirled it in a circle, continuously slamming into her with alternating blunt and sharpened edges.

Behind him, Lancer could hear the sound of cutting air that indicated Saber's sword was coming back around. "Damn it!" Lancer leapt over the sword and into the air, exactly as Batreaux had been hoping for.

The magus rushed forward and pulled out the bag of sand and dirt he'd brought with him and dug out a handful of it. After briefly charging it with magical energy, he reared back and threw it up towards Lancer as hard as he could.

"Too bad you can't dodge while you're in the air, Lancer! Pocket Sand, Shshshaaa!"

Lancer and his red spear fell to the ground separately, the Heroic Spirit clutching his face in his hands. "Oh, god dammit!" As Lancer continued to rub his eyes and yell expletives in pain and annoyance, Batreaux ran over to Saber and helped her up once again. The armor on her chest had several deep gouges in it, but fortunately she hadn't lost any blood.

"Come on Saber, let's get the hell out of here!" The Knight of Treachery nodded and grabbed hold of her Master's arm. The two of them ran off into the night, away from the Fuyuki church.

 **.-.**

Eventually, Lancer of Blue was able to get the sand out of his eyes. "Alright you bastard, where are you!?" he yelled out, brandishing his spear menacingly. He was met with nothing but silence and the night air. "…Huh. I guess they ran off."

"Damn. Those two are more crafty than I gave them credit for. Still," Lancer continued, "I've done what my Master ordered. If they're smart, they'll be thankful he only wanted me to test them. The next time we meet they won't be so lucky." … _And I'm interested to learn who was watching us just now._ Lancer faded away into blue mist, shifting into spiritual form.

 **.-.**

Batreaux and Mordred came to a stop near Fuyuki's Station Front, Master and Servant both breathing heavily and covered in sweat. Batreaux's throat felt like it was on fire, the effects of overexerting himself in the cold night air.

"….Damn."

"Saber, are you okay?" Batreaux asked, concerned for his Servant's safety.

"Yeah, fine." She responded, pulling her arm away from him and dispelling her armor and sword. Red flame washed over her body and she was once more clad in the outfit she'd borrowed from Batreaux. She exhaled deeply.

"Tch. So that bastard was testing us just like Rider, huh? He was holding back. I could tell."

"Seems like it. By the way, Saber. You aren't mad about this? You have kinda lost two fights in a row now."

"Heh. Cheeky aren't ya, Batreaux?" Saber smacked his back with her left hand, making him stumble forward a bit. "But seriously? 'Course I'm mad. It just wasn't your fault this time. Lancer of Blue's gonna be tough to beat even if I do get back to full power."

"Yeah, I can tell." Batreaux nodded to her. "B rank strength, A rank speed, not to mention how good he is with that spear. I think we should wait and see if we can get you back up to your former strength before fighting him again, Mordred." Saber smirked back at him.

"That's the plan, anyway. Speakin' of strength, let's go get some food. You still got some of that cash the other priest gave us, right?" Batreaux reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.

"Of course. Most of it's back at the hotel, but I made sure to bring enough to pay for the amount of food you're probably going to eat. By the way, you mind if I ask a question real quick?"

"Shoot."

"If it's not too…. Troubling to answer, just how much magic do you know, anyway?"

Saber's face fell to a more serious expression. "I picked up a little bit from watching Mother as a child. As you can guess, I never learned any healing magecraft or anything like that. I don't know enough to qualify as a Caster class Ser-"

Mordred's voice cut off at the sound of an object cutting through the night air. Her and Batreaux's eyes widened in shock as what appeared to be an arrow stabbed into the ground just in front of them. The arrow began to glow bright blue. Saber uttered just one word.

"Shit."

A red flash filled his vision just before the arrow exploded, and then Batreaux's world went dark.

 **.-.**

From his vantage point atop the Center Building, the tan skinned and silver haired Archer of Blue watched his arrow explode. It hadn't been a serious shot. If it had been, he would have Traced Caladbolg and used that for the arrow instead. No, this arrow was a simple poke, to see what Saber of Red would do. Archer watched as Saber reequipped her armor, grabbed her Master and jumped back as far as she could, the strain of doing so knocking her Master unconscious. Perhaps that was for the best.

Still, as his red cloak billowed in the wind and he produced another arrow, Archer couldn't get his mind of off the strange feeling Saber of Red gave him.

 _Saber of Red looks exactly like… like… Arturia._ Archer thought. It had been a long time since he'd used that name. How long now, he couldn't remember. But he could still remember the sound of her voice, the warmth of her smile.

But that was something he could never go back to. He wasn't able to save her heart then, and he couldn't do it now. He didn't let the past get the better of him that fateful night he crossed blades with Arturia, and he wouldn't let it get the better of him now. He refocused his thoughts, attempting to work out Saber of Red's identity.

 _So, are you Arturia from some point in life after she lost her honor? Or are you another possibility for the King of Knights entirely?_ He let the second arrow fly. Saber dodged to her right. Perfect. Archer drew a third arrow, and fired. And a fourth. And a fifth. And a sixth. None of the arrows made contact. None of them were intended to. Slowly but surely, Archer of Blue would drive Saber of Red towards the bridge over Mion River. Then, Berserker and Saber of Blue would…

 _No. I can't risk the two Sabers meeting just yet._ The two had the same face. If one who did not know them met both at the same time, or even at all, they might believe them to be twin sisters. Physically, they were perfect copies of each other. The two meeting this early in the war would be poor judgment on his part. He still didn't know enough about Saber of Red to predict how such a situation would play out.

 _Archer, have you found anything?_ The voice of his Master, Rin Tohsaka, came through over their mental link. Archer cursed under his breath.

 _Yes, Rin. I have. The enemy Saber._

 _That's great, Archer! What do we know about them?_ Archer furrowed his brow and fired another arrow at Saber, grey eyes tracking her every move with machine-like precision.

 _Saber appears to be female, the Master is male. Both blond and Caucasian. My guess is that Saber is a European hero._ An eighth arrow. _Based on their fight with our Lancer, Saber is skilled with her blade, but acts more like a Berserker in combat. The Master clearly lacks experience._

 _Tch. Another amateur outsider in way over his head like Emiya, huh? God damn it, what do these idiots think they're doing in_ my _city?! Should I tell our allies to eliminate them, Archer?_

 _No. Tell them the information if you want, but I'd prefer to deal with this one by myself. Something about this Saber interests me._

 _Well, alright. Just be careful Archer._

 _Of course._ The bowman fired another arrow at Saber of Red. Though carrying her Master was slowing her down, she just passed by the building he was on top of. Saber had surely figured out where he was, but couldn't do anything to pursue him due to her unconscious Master.

After taking a moment to calculate trajectory, Archer shot three arrows in rapid succession into the air, each at a slightly different angle from the others. The delay between when they would hit the ground would give him enough time to find a new vantage point and throw Saber off. Once she'd been driven onto the bridge, he would engage in combat.

Archer began his pursuit anew, using his superhuman strength to jump between the buildings of Fuyuki effortlessly. As he twisted and turned in the air, firing off more arrows as he jumped, the myriad lights of the city's nightlife combined into a splendid rainbow. Below him, above him, to the sides of him. Yet no matter how he moved, the Nameless Archer never lost sight of his quarry.

After shooting one final arrow, Archer shifted into spirit form and followed Saber of Red in silence. He watched as she set her Master on the ground on one of the sidewalks running parallel to the road of the bridge. Saber gave the magus a smack on his right cheek then stepped back and waited for him to wake up. Archer jumped up onto the red framework of the bridge furthest from his enemy's location.

 _Rin,_ he contacted his Master through their mental link, _Have you contacted Shirou and Illya yet?_

 _Not yet, Archer._ Came her reply. _I was just about to send a letter to them. Do you have more information?_

 _Yes. I've driven Saber of Red and her Master onto the bridge over Mion River. They seem to think they're safe for now, as they're talking to each other._

 _Can you make out what it is they're saying?_

Archer narrowed his eyes and tensed up. Something was wrong. There was another, powerful Servant nearby. How could he have been so foolish as to let himself be snuck up on? Still, he kept calm. He decided not to tell Rin about this, so as not to cause unnecessary panic.

 _No. By the way, Rin. I know I said I want to fight Saber of Red myself, but I think we both know Shirou and Illya won't listen even if you do tell them to stay away. Tell them anyway, but there's no telling when Saber of Red's allies might arrive. I'll try to finish this before then._

 _Got it. Good luck, Archer._

….The presence was still there. He couldn't pinpoint its exact location, but it was close. Still, whatever kind of Servant it belonged to seemed content to observe for the time being, so after another small moment of focus, Archer of Blue jumped down from his perch.

 _Trace, on._ A group of simple, steel longswords appeared out of the ether and stabbed into the ground one after another, forming a circle. As Archer landed, the swords faded into blue ether once more. Archer stood and drew forth not his bow, but instead his twin black and white swords, Kanshou and Bakuya in bursts of golden light. Though his back was turned to his opponent, he looked over his left shoulder at her.

"You remind me of someone, Saber of Red. Let's see if you're as strong as her."

 **.-.**

When Batreaux came to, he was in a completely different location than before. In front of him were some guardrails and a river, looking further out he could see the ocean and Fuyuki's harbor. Behind him were more guardrails and red framework constructed over a road. The framework and guardrails must have been meant to separate the sidewalk he was on from where the cars would drive. A strong pain stung in his right cheek.

"You alright there?" came Saber's voice next to him. Batreaux stood up and looked to his right, where the blonde stared at him with a look that could vaguely be described as concern.

"Yeah, I think so. What happened?"

"We got attacked by another enemy Servant, Archer of Blue. I kinda knocked you out to get you away from the bomb arrow he shot at us. We're on the bridge in the middle of the city right now." Saber cracked her neck.

"Oh. Well, thanks, Saber." Saber narrowed her eyes at Batreaux.

"Oi, what do you mean 'thanks'? That's it?" she said. "You realize you were unconscious with one of the most hated traitors in all history, right? What was to stop me from killing you and finding a better Master instead, huh?"

Batreaux shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. You tell me. You've had several chances to kill me so far." He held up his right hand. "Hell, these Command Seals are the only things really stopping you from doing it now."

"W-well, that's because, I…"

"I'd like to imagine we're at least decent friends. It'd make it easier to work together."

"Hmmm. Yeah, I'd say we get along pretty well." Saber nodded and smiled. "Getting along's important. Even if you are beneath me, I guess that doesn't mean we can't be friends. And I gotta admit, that little stunt you pulled on Lancer with the sand was kinda cool."

Batreaux smiled back at the Servant. "See? Even if we weren't friends, you still saved my life. I owe you for that." Batreaux held out his right hand. "So thank you, Saber. I mean that. I'd be dead without you." Saber flushed bright red.

"C-cut the s-sentimental shit Batreaux!" she stammered out. Saber folded her arms and turned her head away. "B-besides, we need to stay focused! We might be safe for now, but there's no telling when Archer will strike again!"

As if on cue, a series of noises sounded from behind Saber. She and Batreaux turned to look at the source to see a tanned, silver haired man in black clothes and a red cloak stand up and produce two black and white swords in a burst of golden light. The man looked over his left shoulder at them.

"You remind me of someone, Saber of Red." The man said. "Let's see if you're as strong as her."

Saber growled and rolled her eyes as her armor burst to life around her again.

 _I'm too angry and too hungry to put up with this shit right now._ She thought.

"So, I take it you're the jackass Archer that shot me with all those damn arrows, huh? What happened, your quiver run dry?"

"Hmmph. Taunt me all you like, Saber. I've got you right where I want you." Archer of Blue settled into his combat stance.

"That so?" Saber's helmet clicked into place around her head and she drew forth Clarent once again. Fighting an enemy Servant for the second time in a row in one night was taking a rather large toll on the Heroic Spirit. _Batreaux, after this you're taking me to the most expensive place we can find in this city. And then somewhere else after that, got it?_

The magus nodded in affirmation to his Servant. With the promise of her stomach's every whim being tended to later, Saber could ignore her hunger and fight to the full extent of her remaining power.

"Don't get overconfident, Archer. You're clearly weaker than your team's Lancer was. I'm gonna enjoy poking _you_ full of holes, nice and slowly."

 **.-.**

 **Fate/stay night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 6: Red vs Blue: Part 1**

 **.-.**

 **Yeah, I know I said there'd be 3 fights in this chapter, but I thought this was taking too long to release as it was. So, I decided to take the other fights and move them into the next chapter instead, alongside Saber of Red vs Archer of Blue. Thanks for understanding and over 9000 views. By the way, there's a reference to Fate/Extella somewhere in this chapter.**

 **Also, I'm actually kind of worried Batreaux and Mordred's relationship might be moving a bit too fast, so it'd be great if I could get a second opinion on that. If there are inconsistencies with the last chapter, please let me know and I'll see about fixing those soon, along with some spelling and grammar issues I noticed with previous chapters.**

 **Finally, I'm not too sure about the Saber vs Lancer fight. If enough people are interested, I could go back later and see about improving it.**

 **As always, leave questions/comments/concerns in the review should you decide to leave one.**


	7. Red vs Blue: Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or other related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **On reviews:**

 **-RoseWarden: Nice guesses about Lancer of Red so far. Remember though, based on Ruler's analysis back in chapter 4, Lancer has some kind of divinity. As another hint, they could at least qualify as Lancer, Caster, or Rider. By the way, you might be interested in this next bit for your Fire Emblem story. You know how in Heroes when a unit reaches lv 40 as an SSR there's a little conversation they have with you? Grima's gives them some pretty nice character development.**

 **-KnightOfZaku: Relationship pacing's fine then? Good, good. That means I can focus on improving other aspects of the story more. I might throw 30 quartz when Jealter's released, if only because the second buff on her Dragon Witch skill affects Mordred.**

 **-HuntersShadow: Good advice on the fight scenes. It'll help here of course, but let's just say I have something special planned for chapter 13. There's a few team-ups I have in mind you all might find interesting.**

 **-Guest: Yeah, Secret of Pedigree's information blocking effect is so potent even a Ruler or Mordred's own Master can't get through it, so Archer won't be learning anything from Clarent while it's active. Without it? Maybe. I vaguely recall Clarent being mentioned as also being a fairy made sword like Excalibur, and Mordred's hatred just 'corrupted' it into being demonic instead. Not sure from where though, and to my knowledge it isn't considered a holy armament in the Nasuverse. Though the sword being holy apparently isn't good enough, because in Extella Nameless can Trace Galatine despite it being Excalibur's twin. Then again, the Moon Cell has its own rules to begin with and the two versions of Archer are considered different people if I recall.**

 **On PMs:**

 **-Fleece Johnson: I was wondering when someone would catch on to that! Pocket Sand might not come up as much anymore, but there's still going to be a few moments where Batreaux channels everyone's favorite conspiracy theorist. I'm planning for 26 chapters, so a few of them will definitely be used to cool things off and expand on the character's likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. I currently do not have a beta reader. I understand the worry, but these questions are mostly just so I can see what everyone thinks so far. I'll probably take some of the responses into account, but I've already got a set framework of how the story's going to go, so I won't let them influence me too much.**

 **Before beginning this next chapter, a bit of a 'warning': Given how the story is structured and the nature of a Holy Grail War in the first place, some of the characters will end up getting more focus than the others from here on out, discounting the main pair. Unfortunately, I won't be covering every character as well as I would like to.**

 **.-.**

The clash of metal, grinding steel echoed across the night sky. Beneath the pure light of the moon, at three separate locations, three pairs of great warriors of old waged war.

On Fuyuki city's central bridge, Saber of Red does battle for the second time in one night, against Archer of Blue. Within the Einzbern Forest on the city's outskirts, Saber of Blue clashes with Rider of Red. And on the steps of Ryuudou Temple, Ruler fights a twofold battle against Assassin of Blue, to claim answers to her questions, and to prevent Assassin from claiming her head.

Walled on either side by a sea of trees and autumn leaves, Ruler swings her staff in two quick motions a second apart. Left, right, the saintess' holy staff parries the equally quick swings of Assassin's blade. A sword as long as his would normally be too unwieldy to be practical in combat, but Assassin is a master of the sword who spent his entire life with it. For the indigo haired Servant, the blade is just an extension of his own body.

As their weapons clash again, Ruler grits her teeth. Light nicks and cuts are scattered across her body, and her outfit was damaged in many of the same places, from her ribbons to her dress and to her leggings.

"Guh… I must admit, I didn't expect you to put up this much of a fight, Assassin!" Ruler forced back her opponent's blade and jumped back down a few steps before pointing her staff towards the samurai. A vibrant ball of white energy burst forth towards Assassin at incredible speed. The Servant opted to swing his sword towards the attack instead of avoiding it, and as the energy made contact with the tip of the sword, Assassin curved his arms over his head and down even with the right side of his waist.

Assassin swung his blade upwards diagonally and the energy rocketed back towards Ruler. Ruler simply held out her free hand and the energy dissipated harmlessly upon contact. She scoffed mentally. _Of course holy power such as this would not harm those who use it themselves._

Assassin smirked and readied his blade once more, the moonlight glinting off. "You're too kind, Ruler." He said. "I must say, you are more skilled than I gave you credit for as well. And those wounds only enhance your beauty."

Ruler growled lightly. "Are you mocking me, Assassin?" The Saint of the Waterside launched herself forwards again and thrust out her staff as far as she could. The other Servant parried her attack with his own once again, catching his blade under the corner formed by the three prongs of the staff. A white light began to glow at the center tip of Ruler's staff once again. Assassin pushed with his blade and forced his opponent's weapon up just in time to avoid a second burst of holy power.

Assassin attempted to take advantage of how the Overseer was knocked off balance and rushed in with an overhead slash aimed at her neck. Unfortunately for him, Ruler had anticipated such a move and had dispelled her staff. The saintess had realized Assassin, or Sasaki Kojirou as her True Name Revelation skill had identified him, was much more experienced than she when it came to the blade. While swords and staves were obviously different weapons, in combat one could perform the same basic motions with either, as well as with a lance if one so desired. Assassin's blade was more similar to her own weapon than a traditional sword as well due to its length. To gain an advantage, Saint Martha would have to use a fighting style he hadn't seen any hint of before.

"Oh? Laying down your arms, are you? Have you given up then, Ruler? In that case, your head is mine!"

Ruler shot her arms up just in time to catch Assassin's blade between her hands, a move that would have been quite idiotic if not for her protective gauntlets. A brief look of shock flashed over his face and a smirk flashed over hers. Ruler tightened her grip on the blade and pulled, throwing Assassin off balance and into her now open and waiting arms.

Waves of panic rolled through Assassin as Ruler gripped him in a bear hug with fierce, tiger-like strength. With his arms pinned to his side, the overlong blade he carried would be incapable of freeing him. The night air rushed past his head as Ruler lifted him up and bent over backwards.

"Wait, wait! What are you-"

"ORA!"

Ruler yelled out and a massive bolt of pain cracked through Assassin's body as his head made contact with the hard ground beneath them, force of the collision cracking the ground as well. Stars danced in his vision as Ruler released her grip. The Servant stood back up to her full height and slammed her fists together a few times before resuming a new stance.

"Get up, Assassin. If you still can, that is." The phantom Servant could indeed still stand back up, and did so. He cracked his neck and settled back into his own combat stance. Ruler's surprise attack had hurt quite a bit, but there would be little lasting damage. A gentle breeze blew past the two combatants, their long hair and clothing billowing in the wind.

"I admit, I have underestimated you, Ruler. It seems you are more than just a pretty face after all."

Ruler cracked her knuckles and glared down her opponent. "You're tougher than I thought too, Assassin. In fact, you seem better suited for the Saber class." Assassin smirked lightly at the violet haired Servant.

"Yes, well, the reason for that is something you'll only learn if you defeat me, Ruler. But let's just say for now that despite my distaste for her, my Master is a very powerful mage." Without taking his eyes off of Ruler, the samurai slowly climbed back up the steps she'd thrown him down earlier. He'd intended to retake the advantage of the high ground, but Ruler was too observant to allow that.

 _No matter,_ he thought to himself, _My ultimate technique requires equal elevation to be performed. But will Ruler last that long?_

"Now then, Ruler, let us see whose mana supply holds out longer- mine, from my Master, or yours, from the Grail itself?" After those words were spoken, Ruler and Assassin lunged towards each other to continue their battle.

 **.-.**

From within the walls surrounding Ryuudou Temple, Caster of Red watched the ongoing battle between Ruler and Assassin of Blue intently, paying special attention to the moves used by the Overseer. He frowned upon hearing the words Assassin had spoken.

"You're quite confident in Caster of Blue's mana capacity, aren't you, Assassin? To believe she could possibly outlast the supply of the Holy Grail? Oh, my… These beings called Servants… Really are…." Caster of Red turned away from the fight and headed towards the treeline where he'd first made his entrance. Though he needed to be careful not to consume more mana than he received from the leylines of the area, since beginning his 'partnership' with his intended counterpart, Caster utilized some of the tools he designed in life to carve out and conceal a small tunnel leading underground.

To his amazement, upon the tunnel's completion, Caster had discovered a massive cavern that was positively saturated with mana. At first he'd considered informing Caster of Blue, but decided it would be better put to use as his own workshop. And so it was.

After all, he'd already repaired and reinforced the witch's barrier and thought out a few improvements to those skeletal familiars she seemed to love so much. At the moment however, his thoughts were elsewhere. At the entrance to the tunnel, Caster of Red had placed a form of alarm that would inform him if anyone was attempting to enter his workshop without permission, which at the moment would be everyone. At first he'd believed it a simple precaution against Caster of Blue's interference.

After Ruler appeared at the temple, he realized just how fortunate it was he'd set it up. There was a ninety nine percent chance the Overseer already knew where he was, and Caster wasn't so delusional as to believe Assassin could defeat her in a protracted engagement. No, eventually he would fall, and Ruler would discover his grand deceptions.

As he sat at the stone desk he had carved with his inventions, Caster of Red pondered his options, fiddling with a small set of scales. Scattered about were various blueprints, graphs and formulas.

"Option A: Wait here and hope Assassin manages to either kill or repel Ruler. Option B: Inform Caster of Blue and have her engage Ruler as well, allowing the Overseer to believe their Masters have set up a separate alliance from their comrades." It would be true, but not in the way Ruler would suspect. Of course, Option B ran the same risks Option A did, namely Ruler's eventual victory and discovery of his workshop.

Caster of Red intently stared down a diagram of a cylinder, twirling a pen in his right hand. Cylinder… C… Option C.

"Option C: Make a temporary retreat." All variables considered, this was the course of action that stood the greatest chance of success for Caster. If he were to temporarily leave the area, then despite the risk of being without the leyline's mana supply for a while, no matter who won the battle outside, he would come out on top.

Caster's footsteps echoed throughout the massive underground cavern as he climbed the steps of the tunnel he made, back out to the surface, a smug grin on his face.

 _Hahahaha! If Assassin defeats Ruler, I can slip back in as if nothing happened! And if Ruler wins, she'll certainly want to question Caster of Blue about all of this as well! Then, once the witch is dead, I can claim all of this territory for myself! This plan is perfect!_

Caster of Red was careful to shift into spirit form before he actually emerged back into the winter night's air. Ruler may have been too preoccupied with battling Assassin to try and track him with her abilities, but her eyes worked perfectly fine regardless. Caster stepped back to the part of the barrier where he'd first entered.

 _Hmmph. I'd thought about warning the other Caster before leaving,_ he thought to himself as he began to focus on reopening the seam he'd closed up, _but leaving the foolish witch as-is would be a better choice. Right now she's either sleeping next to her Master, or she's 'sleeping'_ with _her Master. Ridiculous._ Caster of Red frowned as his magic attacked Caster of Blue's own, his expression turning angry. Servants had no need to sleep, and using intercourse as a means of obtaining mana was inefficient at its best, especially when she was already receiving mana though the Fuyuki leylines.

 _What possible reason could she have for wasting time that could be better spent honing her technique or strengthening defenses? Mage or engineer, anyone who doesn't devote all the time and effort they can to their work is a fool!_ The power Caster of Red had been emitting to undo his work on Caster of Blue's barrier faded, and he slipped through it and back out into the forest once again. This time, it would stay damaged. The witch that created it either couldn't detect damage of such a small scale or didn't care to check the barrier in the first place. Assuming the fool survived the night, Caster of Red would need it if Ruler came knocking again.

 **.-.**

Shirou and Arturia raced through the depths of the Einzbern Forest in pursuit of Illya and Berserker. Contrary to what may have been expected from a forest so dense most of the sun's light doesn't reach the ground, there were no times when the two needed to dodge out of the way of a tree or cut down or duck under a branch that would have otherwise smacked one of the two in the head. This was of course due to Berserker's inhuman strength, the demigod being so strong the trees would snap, crack, and topple over from mere contact with him. Of course, any vegetation or other matter commonly found in a forest that would have otherwise flown up to injure Illya was near instantaneously cut down by Berserker.

While coming to the aid of an ally was an important, practically mandatory action for any knight, let alone King Arthur to take, Arturia realized that in her current state, Berserker's power eclipsed her own by a fair degree. That reason was perhaps why she did not feel anxious about her and her Master's pursuit of the Greek. Shirou was only human, after all, so even if it had been in her nature to do so, the King of Knights could not hold his relatively slow speed against him, even if it was technically slowing them down considerably. That said…

"Shirou," the blonde king called to her Master, "Are you certain you do not wish for me to carry you? I do not mind, and we would be able to move much quicker."

"N-no thanks, Saber." The redhead responded. "No offense, but it'd just feel weird to me."

Arturia smiled lightly. "None taken, Shirou. I understand what you mean. Though I must say, at our current speed, catching up with Illya and Berserker, or even reaching the bridge at all before sunrise simply isn't realistic."

As much as Shirou didn't want to admit it, his Servant had a point. At the rate they were moving, any battles going on would already be over. Reluctantly, Shirou slowed to a walking pace with Arturia following his lead. Shortly after, the pair stopped at a ruined house within a clearing in the forest. The house and a small wall nearby were built near entirely out of gray bricks, the house's door of wood. Though the bricks were not exactly crumbling, they were clearly quite aged. Nearly all of them bore signs of medium to heavy erosion, and several had fallen out of place.

Shirou sighed. "You're right, Saber. I don't like it, but there isn't really anything we can actually do to help Illya right now. Let's go home and have something to eat, okay?"

Immediately Saber straightened up, a glint in her eyes. If one were to pay attention, they may have noticed the ahoge on top of her head straighten slightly as well. If there was one thing she enjoyed in the modern era, it was Shirou's cooking. The overall lack of variety in what she would eat in life helped in that regard. The top chefs in Camelot were skilled to be sure, but there was only so many times one could eat the same two or three dishes before they grew tired of them, even if Arturia couldn't show her displeasure due to her position as king.

"That is an excellent idea, Shirou," Saber responded, the glint in her eyes growing stronger. "But it is already quite late, are you certain you won't be too tired in the morning? You do have school tomorrow, yes?" Shirou smiled. Saber's worrying was unnecessary, but welcome. It was nice to know she cared about his well-being.

"Don't worry Saber. I'll be-" Shirou was suddenly cut off by Saber, the Servant holding out her right arm in front of him. He narrowed his eyes, trusting Saber's intuition.

"Whoever is here watching us, I demand you reveal yourself!"

After a few moments of tense silence, a blue mist faded into view and took the shape of a man with long, brown hair and draconic looking peach colored armor, fixed with long white ribbons. His right hand bore a black, silver lined sword, but his posture did not indicate a threat. Yet Saber's years of experience kept her on guard.

"Very well then," the man spoke. "I am Rider of Red. It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Saber of Blue. Though I would like to give you my True Name so we may conduct our duel with honor, my Master forbids it for the time being." Saber relaxed slightly. She did not drop her guard, but did lower her sword down to her side.

"It is refreshing to meet one who shares the same ideals as my own in regards to combat, Rider," Saber responded. "In better circumstances, I would be willing to give you my True Name, as well, but for my own reasons, I cannot. Not even my Master has learned it yet."

"And your Master is fine with this, Saber?" Shirou stepped forward and nodded.

"I am."

Rider of Red nodded as well. "I see. In any case, you surely know why I am here. Currently, our own Saber is in a vulnerable position, and one of your allies is approaching them. However, I am not powerful enough to face your Berserker in combat, so my Master and I decided to leave that one to our Lancer."

"I see. May I ask how exactly you knew where I and my ally were, Rider? How was it you happened upon this empty house in the forest?"

"That is simple. My Master and I decided to take some time to scout out the battlefield. My Master is not here, however, I must commend yours on his bravery. Now then. Shall we begin?"

Saber of Blue took up her combat stance and nodded, with Rider of Red following suit. Shirou wisely stepped back a few feet. While he wanted to assist his Servant in combat, there was little in the way of potential weapons around, and he knew Saber wouldn't appreciate her honorable duel being interrupted.

Saber made the first move, testing Rider's guard with a short series of pokes and light slashes, of which the Servant of Red proceeded to block each one. However, Saber did notice that after each attack of hers, Rider's blocks became slightly more disjointed and delayed. The Invisible Air that cloaked Excalibur's holy light seemed to be doing its job well, as it had in the past.

Rider began to counterattack, slicing at stabbing at the areas on Saber with the least amount of armor. But where the king fell short comparatively in defense, she held the advantage in speed. Try as he might, Rider was unable to pierce Arturia's guard. _Saber of Blue is much calmer and focused in battle than our Saber,_ he noted mentally, sharing the information with his Master. _In addition, her fighting style is as one would expect. She wastes no movements, and even now I find it difficult to so much as dent her armor._

 _Is she affected by your Noble Phantasm?_ His Master's voice responded. _She's clearly related to Batreaux's Servant somehow, but I'd like to be sure if they both have dragon blood or not._

 _She is. I also believe she is not at full power._

 _I see._ In the Centerville area of Fuyuki, Elise Rose lies back on a bed in her and Rider's room in a certain hotel that was damaged by a bomb attack ten years ago. She holds a notepad in her hand, writing down the information she received from her Servant about his enemy. The woman rests her head on her left hand.

 _Could you win if she were fighting at full power?_

 _I am unsure, milady._ Rider responds, deftly avoiding a blow from Saber aimed at his neck, _We do not know Saber of Blue's True Name yet, so we cannot be sure of what her full power is to begin with._

 _Right, right. We've got the same problem with Batreaux's Saber. If you can, try and finish Saber of Blue off here, there's no telling when their Berserker will come back._ Elise closed the link with her Servant and Rider returned his full attention to the fight with Saber. The king had come close to injuring him several times while he was out of focus, but now once more found herself unable to make any progress. Arturia reasoned if she could not slip past Rider's guard, then she would break it down instead, a strategy she'd had to use on several occasions during her wars to unite Britain.

In better circumstances she would have utilized her Mana Burst ability to accomplish this feat, but with Shirou as her Master she would have to be careful of how much mana she consumed. For now, all Arturia had to fall back on was her own strength. The King of Knights made a slash with her invisible sword upwards diagonally, then brought down overhead with all the force she could muster. In response Rider deflected the first blow with his own sword, then brought the black blade up to block Saber's attack, gripping the weapon with both hands as well.

A great ringing echoed throughout the forest as the two holy swords clashed together, releasing a burst of wind that very briefly interfered with Arturia's own shroud of air around Excalibur. To the king's surprise, Rider did not buckle under her assault, and despite the circumstances, she found herself smiling as the two separated their blades.

As he watched on, Shirou clenched his hands into fists. Saber didn't seem to have noticed, but he had. As she fought with Rider, her stats had begun to weaken. Though he had agreed not to interfere in her duel, he was prepared to the instant it seemed she would lose her life. He didn't care what happened to him, but he would do whatever he could to help his Servant. Fortunately, for the moment he was unneeded. Though neither of the combatants had relaxed their guards, both of them seemed to be enjoying the duel.

"You are quite a skilled opponent, Saber." Rider spoke first. If not for my Noble Phantasm's ability to weaken those of draconic origin, I believe that strike of yours would have cleaved me in two." Both Saber and Shirou's eyes widened slightly at Rider's words.

 _So that's why Saber's stats got lower… wait, Saber's a dragon?_

 _Ah. That explains the sluggishness I felt._

"You flatter me, Rider, but do not sell yourself short. I can see you are an accomplished swordsman yourself. Though I do hope you do not mind my using an invisible blade. I do not mean to boast, but if you were to see this sword in full, you would know my True Name instantly."

"I do not mind at all, Saber. If merely seeing it would reveal your identity, then you must be quite the hero indeed. That small glimpse of your blade's resplendent light tells me it is a mighty one."

"Would you like to resume our duel then? You may have weakened me, but I assure you I am no less ready to fight."

"As much as I would, I believe I must take my leave. The degeneration caused by my Noble Phantasm is one that cannot be helped, but it seems even disregarding that, you are not at your full strength."

Saber sighed and lowered her blade. "It is as you say, Rider. Unfortunately, in my current state I cannot freely wield my full might in combat. I see your point. Continuing combat with me as I am now would not be an honorable action for you to take." Arturia dispelled Excalibur and her armor, trusting in her opponent's honor as a knight. Her trust was not misplaced, as soon after Rider of Red dispelled his own blade and offered a hand to her.

"Very well, Saber. I look forward to continuing this duel with you another time." Saber clasped the brown haired man's hand in her own smaller one and shook.

"Perhaps we will meet again as allies. I wish you luck in your endeavors, fellow knight." Rider of Red faded into blue mist with a smile, and the mist dispersed, a sign the Servant had shifted into spirit form and was now returning to his Master. When Saber was certain he was no longer in the area, she removed her blue gown, returning to the civilian clothes she'd been wearing earlier.

Arturia turned to Shirou, a sharpness in her eyes. "I think that went well." She said, ahoge seeming to twitch in contentment. "We shouldn't need to worry about Rider of Red for the time being. I can tell he will be true to his word." Shirou nodded in agreement. The future Hero of Justice was thankful Rider's temperament was similar to Saber's own. The Servant of Red would be unlikely to harm any innocents, and so Shirou would have no issues if the man wished to work team up in the future. That said, he was still curious about something.

"So… You're a dragon, Saber? How does that work?" Shirou asked, one eyebrow raised in confusion. Arturia's expression sombered. She took a deep breath.

"It is… complicated, Shirou. But I promise you that one day soon, I will reveal my past to you, anything and everything you wish to know. It is only fair, given that you have done the same for me."

"Hey, don't worry about it Saber. I don't mean to pry, if you aren't comfortable talking about it yet, that's fine." Arturia's smile, though small, seemed bright enough to light the entire forest.

"Thank you, Shirou. You are a most kind and understanding Master." The red haired teen blushed lightly at the compliment.

"W-well, we should be getting home now. Do you still want me to cook something Saber?" Instantly the hungry glint returned to Saber's eyes.

"Yes please."

 **.-.**

As Caster of Red slipped off into the forest somewhere and tried to mask his presence as thoroughly as possible, Ruler and Assassin of Blue continued to trade blows with each other. Ruler's strikes rained down hard and bestial, with all the wild strength of a fierce tiger. Assassin's sword danced swiftly and sharply through the air with practiced grace, giving the impression of a majestic dragon.

The two's blows collided with each other ceaselessly, each clash showering the two with sparks from the grinding metals. Although Assassin had begun this fight with an advantage, he now found himself on the defensive, despite his earlier boasts. The swordsman was unused to battling opponents that focused on pure martial skill instead of relying on a blade to begin with, and the style used by Ruler was completely unique.

Despite his disadvantage, Assassin found himself enjoying the duel, perhaps even more than the one he had participated in against Saber of Blue. The girl had been an odd sort, one who spoke of honor whilst wielding an invisible blade against him. But, there was a purity in her swordplay nonetheless. And if Assassin had decided to use his ultimate technique in a simple test of western and eastern swords against each other, to avoid using it in a situation such as this would be tantamount to suicide.

Assassin launched a series of four vicious stabbing attacks aimed at vital areas on Ruler's body, such as her neck and heart. The saintess easily blocked the first two by allowing them to glance off of her gauntlets and attempted to dodge the two aimed at her stomach, though due to Assassin's speed his blade still managed to make cuts on either side of her torso. The two combatants separated and stared each other down after this clash. Ruler's body was marked with dozens of nicks and cuts from Assassin's blade, crimson blood soaking into her originally pure white outfit and blue leggings. Assassin's body hid its wounds better, but underneath his hakama and kimono the samurai still bore numerous bruises from Ruler's powerful fists.

Despite the damages the two Servants had sustained, neither of them were even breathing heavily, a testament to how vast the reserves of mana they connected with truly were. Against all odds, it appeared the combined mana of Caster of Blue, the city's leylines, and the hundreds if not thousands of civilians Caster had drawn mana from did provide enough energy to rival the Greater Grail. Although, if a certain temperamental magus were aware of this information, she might deduce Assassin was somehow taking mana from the Grail as well due to his connections to Ryuudou Temple, and the temple's role as a potential invocation spot for the Grail.

Would such a theory be true? Perhaps, just as it is possible a man named Sasaki Kojirou, or a man whose sword was named Monohoshi Zao had existed at some point in history. No one but Assassin himself would know for certain, and as the indigo haired man lowered his meter long blade, clouds began to shift against the night sky.

The gathering clouds darkened the area as they blocked out the moon, as if divine Tsukuyomi were ashamed to show his face in the presence of the technique Assassin was about to unleash.

"You are a truly skilled opponent, Ruler, and I have enjoyed our duel immensely. However, this is where it must end." In response, Ruler smirked and cracked her knuckles. All the tears in her clothing and blood running down one side of her face did nothing to diminish her beauty.

"Are you giving up, Assassin? Ready to answer my questions now?" The samurai smirked back.

"No. On the contrary, I will defeat you with only three more strikes." Ruler's eyes widened in realization of what Assassin was about to do. A cold fear spread throughout her body. One look at Assassin with True Name Revelation had confirmed this earlier, but in her belief she could end the battle quickly, Ruler foolishly ignored it.

A single sword technique, and nothing more. To label this skill a Noble Phantasm would be denigrating its existence. A single swing of the sword that through nothing more than the pure skill of its user, surpasses the existence of Servants, space, and time. This one blow, an impossible feat is wrought not through any sort of determination to accomplish it, but the fact Assassin simply had nothing else to do with his time. A blow that encroaches on the realms of True Magic with nothing more than human ability, and challenges the gods themselves.

Assassin brought Monohoshi Zao above his right shoulder and gripped it with both hands.

"Hiken-"

The nameless samurai stepped forwards. Ruler was left with a mere fraction of an instant to survive the attack.

Yes, survive, for evading the strike was impossible.

"Tsubame Gaeshi!" [Secret Sword- Swallow Reversal]

The first cut rushed towards Ruler in a circular horizontal arc, with speed that seemed to rival lightning. The second cut, first of the impossible, landed slightly later from overhead, aimed at Ruler's neck. The final cut came from the opposite side as the first, severing any means of escape.

Great sprays of blood leapt forth from Ruler's body as the lavender haired saint stumbled backwards. She tumbled down the stairs leading up to Ryuudou Temple as the clouds above cleared and the moon's silver radiance shone through once again. Ruler had survived Assassin's ultimate technique through a combination of her own tenacity, a skill she possessed, and sheer dumb luck.

Though he failed to take her head, Assassin of Blue had won the duel, and repelled the Overseer.

 **.-.**

Archer of Blue was proving to be quite an irritating opponent. The battle between him and Saber of Red had since moved onto the center of the Giant Bridge where cars would drive past, the pavement scarred with dozens of sword marks from the two fighters waging war.

 _Geh. Slippery bastard ain't he, Batreaux?_ Saber of Red asked her Master over their mental link. The armored Servant's position was rather disadvantageous, and she was beginning to think Batreaux may have had a point when he brought up that the Archer class would have an advantage over her in combat. If she could close the distance, that'd be one thing, but she couldn't. Archer's reflexes were just too quick.

Every time Saber attempted to strike with Clarent, one of two things would happen. Either Archer would block with one or both of the black and white swords he carried, or another sword would appear out of nowhere and force her to dodge. It was maddening, and almost seemed as if Archer could predict her every move. Not to mention the flying swords! Was Archer using swords of all things for his arrows?

"What's wrong, Archer?!" Saber yelled out. "You bear swords in your hands like a Saber, yet you stay out of reach of my blade like the cowardly bowman you are! Pick one and fight!" An arrow burst forth from Archer's location aimed straight at Saber's heart, who barely managed to catch it out of the air. She scoffed and easily snapped the arrow in half before throwing it aside and lunging towards her foe. In response the red cloaked bowman drew forth his twin swords once again and threw them out towards his opponent. Saber smirked and raised Clarent high above her head, the look of a crazed predator on her face, though obscured by her helmet.

"Ha! You missed, dumbass! Now you- Ghhk!" Saber's murderous look changed to one of shock that held no less killing intent. Embedded in her back were the two swords Archer had thrown. The bastard child of Arthur fell to one knee, barely managing to keep herself from falling to the ground completely. She would not tolerate a _third_ defeat. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be up to her, as Archer materialized two more swords identical to the ones that had just faded away. That meant now blood was flowing freely from her wounds.

 _Shit, this is bad. And he's got_ more _of those damned swords too…_

"You may think me a coward, Saber," he said as he looked down at her, "But only a fool masters the use of a single weapon." Though it had seemed to Saber that he could predict her movements, in truth that was false. If he had managed to finish Tracing her weapon and learned its history, then it might've been possible. But after Saber had materialized her helmet that became impossible. For some reason, whenever he attempted to so much as look at her sword, his vision filled with static and pixelated. The real reason he'd managed to claim the advantage that he had was simply because of the massive difference in their mana reserves at the moment.

The silver haired Archer stepped back a few feet and drew forth a bow, but not his usual black one. The bow was largely formed of black obsidian, with a wing-shaped protrusion acting as the arrow rest. The limbs of the bow instead appeared to be formed of a deep purple amethyst, almost certainly forced together through magecraft. This was confirmed after Archer assumed his firing stance and pointed the bow directly at Saber's head. A dark purple energy shrouded the weapon, forming both bowstring and arrow as a sickly purple glow illuminated the area.

Saber grit her teeth and cursed mentally. _Dammit. So this is where my second life ends, huh? …Fine. To have my chance for my wish torn away from me by some lowdown trash like this… I guess it's what lowdown trash like me deserves. I didn't even get to finish that anime Batreaux showed me._ Saber closed her eyes and prepared for death, but it never came. Instead she heard someone step in front of her and the humming of Archer's fell bow fade. Saber looked up and found herself in shock again as she saw the long hair of her Master.

"B-b-Batreaux?!" she sputtered out, "Wh-What the hell are you doing, you god damn idiot?! Get out of here!"

"Yes, what are you doing?" Archer agreed. "This doesn't concern you. Move aside and I'll let you live. Believe it or not, I only fought Saber here because she's an obstacle in my mission."

"Doesn't concern me? What the hell are you talking about?" There was an unmistakable note of fear in Batreaux's voice as he countered Archer. "Saber's not just my Servant, she's my friend. And if you want to kill her, then you'll just have to kill me too." Saber had managed to stand back up, bewildered by, yet thankful for her Master's sudden display of courage. Sure, now they were _both_ going to die, but it was the thought that counted.

 _Saber,_ Batreaux called out to her, _Get the bag out of my back pocket, carefully, and get ready to throw it. The whole thing. I've got a plan for us to escape._

"Your friend? Ridiculous. Friendship means nothing. It will only get you hurt."

"'Friendship will only get you hurt'? Wow, man. I don't know what you've been through, but I kinda feel bad for you after hearing that, Archer." Batreaux pushed up his glasses as a wind began to blow from in front of him. The blond smirked and pointed at his opponent. "I'll show you my trust in Saber isn't misplaced."

"And how do you plan to do that? As it stands, all you've done is foolishly come between me and your Servant, ensuring you both perish here." Archer had a point. Under normal circumstances, a human like Batreaux had no hope of defeating a Servant in combat. Fortunately, Batreaux wasn't planning to fight Archer at all. Rather, he was going to use a legendary technique called 'running away'. Batreaux began to focus his mana into his right arm. It was a huge gamble, especially with how little mana Saber had at the moment, but it was the only shot they had. Cyan lines traced across his hand, glowing like computer circuitry- his Magic Circuits.

 _Now, Saber!_ He called out in his mind. On cue, Mordred tossed the bag of sand into the air between them and Archer, imitating her Master from before.

"Pocket Sand, Shshshaa!"

The tanned Servant cast a single upwards glance towards the bag. "Really, that's your plan? Not only did I see you try this against Lancer already, Saber didn't even take any sand out of the bag first."

"That's just step one, Archer!" Batreaux yelled in triumph. Pulling his left hand in next to his body, he thrust out his right hand towards the bag, pointed two fingers, and called out a spell.

"Der… Knall!"

With those words, the bag of sand violently exploded, throwing sand out towards Archer in a massive cloud. The nameless Servant made a quick move to cover his mouth, nose, and closed his eyes. "Come on, Saber! Let's get out of here!" Mordred nodded in agreement with her Master and quickly dispelled both her armor and sword, settling back into her civilian clothes. The two began to run away from Archer and back towards the Center Building. Hopefully it would serve as a good landmark to help them find some food and a bus back to the hotel. They'd had quite enough fighting for one night.

Batreaux and Mordred came to a screeching halt as a mighty roar echoed out, the sound threatening to burst their eardrums. At the end of the bridge awaited a giant of a man, impossibly well-muscled with stone-like skin. Aside from metal rings on his wrists and ankles, the man wears only an armored skirt-like garment. From his arms protrude two large stone spikes, and in his right he wields an even more massive slab of rock much too large to be called a sword. These attributes combined with his wild black hair gave off the impression of a wild monster. Both Batreaux and Mordred were frozen in place with fear. Instantly, the pair knew this was Berserker of Blue.

Next to Berserker was what appeared to be a young girl with silver hair, burning red eyes, and fair white skin. The girl wore a collared purple shirt, long white skirt, and purple boots. Her face wore a menacing smile, and her gaze was burning a hole into Mordred, who shortly after locked eyes with the mystery girl and felt a shock of recognition pulse through her.

 _This girl… is… is a.._ Batreaux caught on to his Servant's distress and glanced at her worryingly for a moment.

 _She's what, Saber? A Master, right? If she's Berserker of Blue's Master, she must be insanely powerful… This is bad._ Saber was glad that Batreaux apparently didn't know what Hommunculi were. That wasn't really a conversation she felt ready to have just yet. Behind them, the cloud of sand surrounding Archer of Blue was beginning to disperse, and Batreaux was out of escape routes.

 _Shit._ They both thought at the same time.

At that moment, said Archer felt the presence that had been watching his battle with Saber burst forward with incredible speed. That sealed it- the presence had been a Servant of Red. The girl next to Berserker opened her mouth to laugh at her prey's misfortune when suddenly a burst of wind rushed past her. Silver hair whipped around her head and the breath was nearly stolen from her lungs. Berserker let out a short bark, and all four present-Batreaux, Archer, Saber, and the girl watched in shock as the hulking Servant flew off the bridge and fell into the Mion River below.

"Berserker!" the girl yelled out, confirming her status as the Servant's Master. She rushed over to the edge of the bridge and grasped onto the railing as she stared down at the water below. For a moment Mordred felt tempted to push her in and be done with it, but the invisible presence that had saved her and Batreaux blew past the pair again, this time grabbing a hold of them. The two were dropped off in front of the Center Building, and the presence raced back to the bridge.

A few tense moments of silence passed between Batreaux and Saber as the two processed what had just happened. Batreaux was the one to break the silence.

"I don't know what the hell that thing was just now, but _thank God_ it got us away from Berserker."

"I think that was one of our team's Servants." Mordred said. The blonde was starting to feel very tired, and not in the way one does when they need sleep. She was dangerously low on mana. She fell to one knee again and Batreaux started to panic.

"Saber? Saber!" he called out to her. The man knelt down next to her himself and put an arm around her shoulder. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! This is really bad!"

"N-nah, I'm f-fine. J-just need some food is all…"

"No way, Saber, you won't last that long! You need to take spirit form, _now_."

"I-I r-refuse, Batreaux… I'm okay, really…"

Panic and concern showed plainly on Batreaux's face, and it was turning red from worry in contrast to Mordred's increasingly pale face. If Mordred didn't take on her spirit form, there was a very real possibility of her fading away.

"Mordred, _please_!" Batreaux was desperately begging her now. "You were barely running on fumes _before_ you fought Archer. Now? Please, just take spirit form until I get you some food! I don't want to see you die!"

Mordred felt a twinge of guilt in her heart. _Does he really care that much?_

"Alright, f-fine…" she said. "I d-don't care what it is, but y-you better get me some food f-fast. Y-you got that, k-knave?" Mordred faded into blue mist and instantly felt her being stabilize a bit. Spirit form felt weird to her, but she had to admit, she _did_ get more mana from Batreaux like this. _Hurry up. This feels weird._

 _Okay._ Batreaux stood up and exhaled deeply, waiting for his heart rate to slow down from what felt like lightspeed. After about ten seconds of waiting, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small map of the city he received at the airport.

"Alright. Let's see if we can't find a good old-fashioned Mc Dolan's in this city."

 **.-.**

 **Fate/Stay night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 7: Red vs Blue: Part 2**

 **.-.**

 **So this was supposed to go up about a week ago, sorry about that. Friend had a birthday, was pretty fun. Kara no Kyoukai event was fun too, Shiki's a pretty sweet Servant. Don't feel like replacing Kojirou with her on my Support setup though. Hopefully Dantes' event is as difficult as advertised.**

 **I decided to make this one a bit longer than before. Just a heads up now, next chapter won't be focusing on action or story progression too much, it's mostly going to be character development. Maybe Shinji'll finally make an appearance or something, not sure yet.**

 **As always, questions/comments/concerns in the review box should you decide to leave one. See you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate series or other related works. They are the property of TYPE-Moon. Please support the official release.**

 **On reviews/PMs:**

 **-KnightOfZaku: While Ruler won't be actively helping the Red Faction, so as to stick with her role as an Overseer, she's certainly hoping they end up winning right now.**

 **-Caspeif: I wouldn't really consider myself a good choice to get advice from, but since you asked; Make sure to check out everything official you can regarding any character really. In the case of Mordred, that would be the Apocrypha anime, light novels, any scenes she appears in for F/GO, and probably something else I'm forgetting. Good things to remember are that Mordred puts up a prickly front and is very confrontational and prideful, but is willing to work under someone as long as they give her proper respect about it. In addition, when she grows to truly trust someone she can seem like an entirely different person with how upbeat she becomes. Hope that helped!**

 **Seriously though, I can't believe this story's gotten over 15K views. Thanks to all of you for checking it out!**

 **.-.**

"Alright then, Batreaux," Saber said to her Master, "Show me what you've got, and we'll work up from there." The blond Texan nodded in determination and let his body drop down, slowly, so as to get the most out of the exercise.

"One… two… three… four…" While ensuring his descent was slow required control and effort on part of his muscles, fighting back against gravity to rise back up needed even more energy. For any exercise, careful and proper breathing was essential. "Five… six… s-seven…"

Much as he hated to admit it, Batreaux was already beginning to feel a burning sensation in his arms, indicating he had nearly reached the limits of his strength. _How embarrassing,_ he thought to himself as he completed an eighth push-up. Physical prowess wasn't exactly his forte, but he should at least be capable of ten. Under normal circumstances he likely could've done at least twenty, but he wasn't used to the added weight.

"What, that's it?" Mordred asked from her position, seated firmly on Batreaux's back. She looked down at him with a look halfway between disappointment and amusement, holding a half-eaten hamburger in one hand. The burger was one of the… _What was it again? Two dozen?_ He'd bought for Mordred after managing to track down a joint the previous night. Thanks to her Grail-given knowledge of Japanese, he'd managed to make the purchase rather easily, aside from a bit of shock at the sheer amount of food the cashier had displayed. He'd taken a few for himself of course, to help get Saber back to a level where she could safely materialize again to eat the rest.

"N-niiiinnneee…" He couldn't take the strain anymore and collapsed. Mordred stood up and offered him her free hand, which he eagerly took hold of.

"Come on man, you've gotta do better than that."

"S-sorry, Saber. I guess I just wasn't used to your added weight is all." An instant too late Batreaux realized his grave error and his eyes widened in fear. _Oh, shit._

"Oi, what was that about my weight?" Mordred asked, a dark, murderous expression on her face. Batreaux could practically feel the malice rolling off of her. "Maybe next time I'll take my legs off the floor too, then you'll really feel my 'added weight'."

"Uh, that wasn't what I meant, Saber! I swear! The problem isn't you being heavy or anything at all, it's just me being weak!" Saber narrowed her eyes and took another bite of her hamburger before chuckling lightly. As his panic began to fade, Batreaux realized he was off the hook. "Seriously though Saber. I'm glad you agreed to help me exercise, but I kinda thought you'd be exercising with me."

"If it was anything other than a waste of mana, sure." Mordred sat back down on her bed in their shared hotel room. "Servants can't change our forms through any sort of ordinary means, so no matter how much I exercise I wouldn't get any stronger. And no matter how much I eat, I won't gain any weight either." Saber crumpled up the wrapper of her food into a little ball and threw it like a basketball towards the trashcan by the door. It bounced off the rim and landed by Batreaux, who put in the trash instead.

"Really? So absorbing mana's the only way for you to get stronger?"

"Yep. Hell, you wanna know why even the weakest Servants can take out the strongest humans no problem? It's 'cause unless you put some kind of mana behind it, you just can't hurt us."

"You're lying." Batreaux said in disbelief, "So even if the entire planet blew up, or if a nuclear bomb dropped on your head, you'd be fine if magic didn't cause the explosion?"

"Well, I don't know about _that,_ but you? Even if you hit me as hard as you could, nothing would happen. Give it a shot if you don't believe me." Saber got off the bed and stood in front of Batreaux in her rather… unique outfit. The prince had decided to wear a combination of what she wore under her armor and the clothes she'd borrowed, so while her lower half was covered by jeans, she had on the simple red, chest-covering leather for a top.

Batreaux stared at her in confusion. "Yoouuu… want me to punch you in the stomach?"

"Hell no!" Saber scoffed. "In my abs!" Saber rapped her knuckles against her abdomen a few times for emphasis. Batreaux hadn't noticed before, but he had to admit, Mordred's body, while slim, did have a rather well-defined musculature, especially her abs. _Especially_ her abs. Batreaux felt a combined feeling of envy and admiration as he looked over his Servant's body.

 _I can't believe I didn't notice this before, but Mordred's actually pretty fit, huh… Damn, that's one of my weaknesses…_ Saber looked on with a smug smile on her face. She'd never admit it, but she was enjoying the attention, especially after being called 'average' the night she and her Master had met.

"That's okay Saber. I believe you. I actually have a second request, if you don't mind."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'd like you to teach me how to wield a sword. I realize I won't really be a help against Servants anymore, but it'd still be useful against enemy Masters."

Saber's mood darkened as she recalled the events of the previous night, specifically after she'd engaged Archer on the bridge. Whatever the reasons for it may have been, Batreaux had knowingly put himself in a situation where he could easily have died, all to try and protect her. It was utterly asinine, but it and his panic as she had almost faded away proved his apparent care for her was genuine. It was an odd, new sensation.

"Yeah, the sword training ain't happening. I'm not the teacher type, and I mostly just fight on instinct anyway. And by the way, it's hard for me to admit when I've screwed up, so you better listen closely to this next bit." Saber took a deep breath and sighed, before looking Batreaux dead in the eyes. The intensity of her gaze made him shudder a little, even though she meant him no harm.

"I… misjudged you, Batreaux. After how easily you fell in line after my fight with Rider, I assumed you were a spineless coward. But what you did for me last night proved otherwise. You've still got a long way to go before I'd consider you a knight or hand control back over to you, but at least you're kinda reliable in a pinch. Got it?" A slight blush had spread over Mordred's face as she spoke, the experience clearly embarrassing for her. Her embarrassment only intensified after Batreaux's response.

"Well, thank you for the high praise, your Majesty. I'll do my best to continue exceeding your lofty expectations." He said with a bow. Batreaux himself was embarrassed by Mordred's praise and gratitude. If he was being honest, he would say he didn't think he really deserved it. It was probably because _she_ had… never mind.

"Wa-wa-what do you mean, 'your Majesty'!?" Mordred cried out as her face burned bright red. Batreaux smiled at Mordred's stammering. It was further proof to him that he'd misjudged her at first as well.

"I just thought you sounded pretty kingly in that little speech is all. You're in this war to prove your birthright, aren't you?"

"W-well, I… yeah, but… Hmm." Saber looked down in thought for a moment, then brightened up and smiled at Batreaux. "So, why are you in this war? What are you fighting for?"

Batreaux grimaced a bit, which was somewhat concerning to Mordred. "I thought I told you before. I just want a quiet life by myself."

"You did, but I want to know _why_ you went ahead and summoned me. You don't need the Grail's power to live a quiet life, and you don't seem predictable enough to do this kind of shit because destiny says so or whatever." Batreaux walked over to and sat down on his bed. Saber followed his lead, sitting down on hers. The two faced each other.

"I honestly don't know why. Probably something stupid like wanting to be a hero, or something else like that I don't deserve. At least at first. Now, I'd say it's because I feel like I can relate to you, Mordred."

 _He doesn't deserve to want to be a hero?_ Saber narrowed her eyes at him, thoroughly confused by the statement. "Eh? The hell does that mean?" Batreaux looked away from her and put a hand on his face.

"I'm sorry, Saber. I shouldn't have said that." Just as quickly as his mood had darkened, Batreaux was back to his usual self. It was a bit jarring to Saber, almost as if he'd had practice hiding his emotions. "Let's go over what we're gonna do today. Planning how we deal with the Blue Faction is important, but I think we should make time to have some fun too. What do you think?"

A hint of worry could be seen on Mordred's face and in her green eyes, but she was willing to change the subject if he was. Oh, she hadn't given up on finding out her Master's motivations. She'd thought briefly about threatening him for the information, but decided against it for now.

"Well," she said, hopping over to Batreaux's bed to look at the list he was writing down, "Those burgers were great and all, but I'm still holding you to that promise you made about taking me to an expensive place." Batreaux nodded and wrote down 'Feed the black hole' on his notepad. Mordred frowned a little. "Oi. Anyway, I also wanna try out some of the arcades and batting cages around here. I still owe you some payback for that fighting game you beat me in before we left for the airport.

Batreaux wrote down 'Beat Saber again' and 'Pay tribute to the Dark Lord Christopher'. The last one bewildered Mordred and she took her arm off his shoulder after reading it. "What the- that had better just be your weird way of remembering Baseball, Batreaux."

"Yeah, basically. By the way, you want some new clothes? I was gonna buy a new jacket, and was thinking we could get you something if you want."

"Yeah sure, just give me a sec to put on a shirt." Saber walked over to the hotel room closet and pulled out a red shirt with white sleeves before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

 _Wait,_ Batreaux thought, _Was Mordred just wearing a bra this whole time? Huh._

"Oh, and I'd like to do some more exercise later. I know I didn't do too well just now, but this is as good a time as ever. Besides, it'd be nice for my health."

"Yeah," Mordred said as she stepped out, now wearing a full outfit. "I'd say you could stand to lose a few dozen pounds."

"Ouch. I'm not that out of shape am I?"

Mordred chuckled lightly at Batreaux's response. "Come on, let's go already."

"Alright, just don't lose your keycard." Batreaux pulled on an old white cloth jacket over a solid red shirt, thinking it would make a nice complement to Saber's own outfit, fastened his watch and grabbed his wallet. Batreaux opened the door and exited their hotel room, only for him to nearly run head first into a familiar, brown haired woman.

"Oh hey Bat!" Elise exclaimed, eyes lighting up at the sight of her roommate. "I didn't expect to run into you in Japan, or that your hotel room would be right across the hall from mine! Shouldn't you be back at home watching after your _sister_?~" She asked mischievously, putting extra emphasis on the word 'sister'.

Behind Batreaux, Saber popped her head up to look at who he was talking to, remnants of her last hamburger hanging from her mouth carelessly. She narrowed her eyes at the sight of Elise, then made a noise Batreaux could've sworn was like the hissing of a cat. To be fair, Elise's mouth did somewhat resemble a cat's herself as she noticed her friend's Servant behind him.

"Oh? Morgan's here in Fuyuki with you, Batreaux? Didn't you say she was staying with you for a vacation? Are your parents really okay with you bringing your baby sister all the way to Japan?" Underneath her mounting rage, Mordred could faintly feel her Master's energy darken through their link at the mention of his parents. That hadn't happened when he'd come up with the lie that they wanted her to live with him.

"To be honest Elise, my parents have no idea we're here. It'd mean a lot to me if you didn't tell them about this."

"Aww, you don't have to worry about that, Bat. But, you know," Elise leaned in closer to Batreaux and placed one hand on his shoulder. _"You're a really bad liar~"_ she whispered gently in his ear.

"E-eh?" Batreaux stammered out as a chill went down his spine. He didn't get to see this side of her too often at home, but Elise could be quite frightening when she felt like it. "W-what do you mean, Eli-chan?" he said in an attempt to play cute.

"I mean, Morgan isn't really your sister. First, you said 'my' parents instead of 'our' parents just now. Second, I don't even know your parents' _names_ , so how could I tell them you were in Japan? And finally, I think we both know what that tattoo on your hand really is, so just admit it, Batreaux."

Batreaux swallowed. Several seconds of tense silence passed between the two young adults. Behind Batreaux, Mordred's right hand hovered out of Elise's view, crimson fire wrapped around it as she prepared to draw Clarent. Finally, Batreaux sighed. "Alright Elise. You win. Come on in, if you want." Mordred reluctantly dissipated the fire from around her hand and pulled out the chair from the hotel room's desk, sitting on it backwards.

Saber's eye twitched lightly as Elise sat down on the edge of her bed while Batreaux sat back down on his own. "So, as you've figured out, Morgan isn't really my sister. She's actually my Servant, Saber. And for what it's worth, we've figured out _your_ Servant is Rider, and that we're on the same side for now."

"Yeah, so that overly-chivalrous dickhead can stop hiding, for one thing." Saber called out, staring straight behind Elise. In response, blue mist shifted and Rider of Red faded into view, wearing the same jeans and brown shirt from when Saber and Batreaux first encountered him.

"Hello again, Saber." Mordred just snorted in response.

"Alright, so you guys know I'm a Servant. Whaddaya want? 'Cause if you try anything funny, I guarantee you ain't walking back out of here, even if I don't either."

Elise giggled lightly. "We're only here to talk Saber, don't worry. Besides, in your _current_ state, there really isn't much you could do against us anyway." A very blatant, angry look came over Saber's face. If Batreaux and Elise hadn't been both friends and on the same team, Mordred would have been very tempted to wring the girl's neck. Hell, she was tempted to do it anyway. Perhaps what Elise said next was the only reason she didn't.

"I can help with that, you know. Your circuits, I mean." Elise pointed down to Batreaux's arm and he followed her gaze, imagining the glowing blue lines that would trace across it whenever he performed magecraft, most recently, during the previous night when he cast the explosion spell. "Let me guess, your arm feels like it's fallen asleep for a few hours after you cast a spell, right?" Batreaux nodded.

"Mmhmm. If I'm right, I'd say summoning Saber was the first time you ever performed magic. Makes sense if that's the case. Magic Circuits are a lot like muscles, actually."

Two pairs of grey eyes, one slate and the other stormy, locked onto each other. "I get it," Batreaux said, "It's like starting off exercise by lifting the heavy weights instead of working up to them with something small."

"Exactly. Your circuits are still usable, obviously, but unless you open them up properly, Saber won't ever get any stronger than she is now. Normally, that would happen over time anyway, but we don't have as long as that would take. So, I'm gonna open up your circuits for you, Bat~"

Saber raised an eyebrow after hearing that. She'd seen several types of rituals as a child, but only small pieces of them, and never a circuit opening. Her own circuits never really needed to be opened up, as they were actually a Magic Core. Saber was interested, and bewilderingly, a little envious?

"Uh, okay. How do we do that?"

"There's several ways," Elise said as she rolled up her sleeves and directed Rider to guard the door to the room. "For this though, I'm just going to transfer some of my mana through your circuits, then you'll transfer it back to me." Elise focused some mana into her hand's circuits and held them out to Batreaux. Another pang of envy struck Mordred as she watched the two entwine their fingers, though she couldn't explain why.

"Alright, Batreaux. Just focus, and make sure to breathe slowly." Batreaux and Elise both closed their eyes on focused on the other's presence. A bright cyan glow began to fill the room as the two began their task. A rush of warmth began to enter Batreaux's body from his left hand as his circuits began to light- Elise's mana. If mana could be said to be the power of one's soul, then the feeling of one's mana could give light to their true nature. At her core, Elise was a kind and caring person. As her mana flowed back into her through Batreaux's right hand, he began to wonder if she really had what it would inevitably take to win the Holy Grail War.

At that moment, Batreaux's momentary lapse in focus formed a 'crack' in his connection with Elise, a crack from which some hidden, strange power deep in his mind began to treacherously creep through. The cyan light emanating from where the two's hands connected began to turn violet. A burst of unknown panic surged through the watching Saber and Rider's bodies, and the two locked their own eyes a split second before Elise herself also took notice of this nameless wrong. Abruptly, she severed her connection with Batreaux, abandoning whatever remained of her mana within his circuits. It wasn't worth the risk of staying connected any longer.

A burst of concussive force blew the two apart and into opposite walls of the hotel room, and the two watching Servants hurried to their Masters' sides as a violet light quickly faded from Elise's eyes. Her heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest as she desperately tried to calm down and catch her breath.

"Milady! Are you unharmed?" Rider asked as he knelt down to rest a hand Elise's shoulder.

"Batreaux! Hey, Batreaux!" Saber yelled at her Master, who had yet to open his eyes. She turned towards Elise and Rider with a frenzied, maniacal rage on her face. "What the fuck did you just do to him?!"

Mordred's armor snapped into existence around her with incredible speed and Clarent materialized so strongly it seemed to burn away space itself. Rider's own armor and the holy sword Ascalon appeared in a brighter flash of light than before, as the Guardian Knight skill activated in response to the threat against his Master. Mordred raised Clarent high above her head and she prepared to strike.

Fortunately, Batreaux happened to awaken at that moment. His grey eyes fluttered for a bit before he realized what was happening and scrambled to his feet in a panic.

"Wait, wait a minute!" He reached out his right hand towards Mordred, unconsciously activating one of his Command Seals. "Saber, **STOP!** " A burst of scarlet energy erupted forth from Batreaux's hand, and Mordred suddenly ground to a halt. If she had tried, she likely could've resisted the Command Spell's effect, but she was too overcome with a mixture of shock, anger, and relief. The Knight of Treachery forced her head to turn and glared at her Master over her shoulder.

The Command Seal Batreaux had used to force her obedience slowly faded away, leaving only a vague, bruise-like patch behind on his skin, its power exhausted. "I'm okay, Saber," he said slowly, "See? I'm perfectly fine. You don't need to hurt Elise. She didn't do anything to me.

As the power of the Command Spell over her faded, so too did Mordred's armaments. Her body still shook with rage, but it was no longer directed at Elise, who had managed to calm down and stand up herself.

"I have no idea what that was, but at any rate, your circuits _should_ be working properly now, Batreaux. You should avoid casting any magecraft for now though. The Command Spell wasn't technically cast with your mana, so it shouldn't have any adverse effects, but…" Elise staggered lightly and shook her head. Rider moved himself to help her stand. "Oh, wow, I need to go lie down for a while. I'll…. see you later, Bat." Elise and Rider exited the hotel room to return to their own. Batreaux and Saber stayed quiet for a few moments more to listen for the door closing.

Then Saber decked Batreaux across the face again. "That's for making me worry about you, asshole!" Though the pain was still immense, Batreaux managed to remain standing this time, having expected something like that to happen.

"Two things. First, _that's_ you being worried about me? Second, you were worried about me?"

"Of course I was, Batreaux! I felt this weird energy coming off of you, and then you didn't wake up, and I thought that witch had done something to you, so I freaked out, and… Gah! Why'd you waste a Command Seal on that anyway?"

"I wasn't about to let you kill my friend, no matter how good your intentions were."

"Ghhhh… You've got a point, I guess. I-I'm sorry, Batreaux. It's just, I've never actually had a friend before, so…" Someone else probably wouldn't have gotten Mordred's point, but Batreaux understood what she meant perfectly. And while it was heartwarming to know she considered him a friend, it was also depressing that he was apparently her _only_ friend. Ever.

"Hey, I get it. And I'm fine anyway, so it's nothing to worry about, right?" Saber thought about it for a moment, and soon her usual confident smirk was back on her face.

"Yeah, I guess. But, man, you've gotta have some serious, quality circuits if that was the result of opening them."

"You think so?" Batreaux asked as the two stepped into the hall to begin their day for real.

"Hell yeah! Sure, it was weird, but I've never seen something like that before! Ah man, I can't wait to see what your mana tastes like now!"

"Wait, my mana has a flavor to it?" Considering Mordred's appetite, combined with how she hadn't been able to get enough mana from him before, the idea was a bit worrying to him.

"Aww, don't worry," Saber said as the two stepped into an elevator at the end of the hall, "I'm not gonna take so much I kill ya or anything. But yeah, it was kinda buttery, I guess? You probably eat a lot of fatty foods, yeah?"

"Hey, who knows? Maybe now my mana will taste like pineapple."

"Hahah, gross!"

 _Wait, she understood that joke?_

 **.-.**

"Awww, bastard! How the hell do you keep beating me?" Saber stared at the cabinet screen in shock as her character fell to the ground and the announcer proclaimed Batreaux's victory. Again. Every attempt Saber had made with each of the game's twenty-two unique characters ended in failure. Though she realized they were just playing a friendly game with each other, Mordred still hated losing. The cheers of the small crowd that had gathered didn't help her self-esteem.

"Heh. You see Saber," Batreaux said smugly while pushing up his glasses, "You might be superior to me physically, but when it comes to video games, you're in _my_ house. Also, you're jumping characters too much. Instead, you should find two or three you like and stick with them."

"Even still! My Instinct skill should've been enough to outplay you!" Mordred finally let go of where she had a deathgrip on the console and Batreaux followed as the crowd dispersed and congratulated the pair; Saber on her determination to play twenty-two matches in a row, and Batreaux for winning said matches.

"Well, that skill didn't seem to help much against Lancer and Archer."

"Gettin' a bit too cocky there, ya know. Want me to beat ya up for real?"

"No, I wanna race," Batreaux said, pointing over to a pair of Initial V machines.

"Oh, you're on. Believe it or not, I actually _am_ good at driving."

 **.-.**

"Gah, I missed again! Come on you stupid bat!" Mordred continued to swing around wildly at each ball the pitching machine would send her way, and she would completely fail to connect each time. Her Master found himself in a similar situation, as while the young man did have hand-eye coordination, he had never played Baseball before, and was unused to physical labor in general, a conscious decision on his part. Still, Mordred felt a bit better about her own issues with the sport after seeing him fail as well.

The two began laughing after a while, and instead of competing to see who could hit the most of the numbered targets they were presented with, instead decided to see who could make the worst shot possible. So far, their 'score' was tied, with Batreaux winning at the fighting game, Saber winning at the racing game despite her… wild playstyle, (Something she took pride in regardless,) and neither truly winning at the batting cages.

However, on their way out, Batreaux caught an interesting sight across the street. Two teenagers, one with red hair that he assumed was rare among Japanese, and a European girl of the exact same appearance as Mordred, aside from a lock of hair that stood straight up on her head. Batreaux briefly did a double take to make sure Saber was still with him and sure enough, she was.

"Hey Mordred," he asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any siblings, would you?"

"If I do, then no one ever told me, just like they never told me anything else important. Why?"

A sudden chill came over Batreaux, and deep in the back of his mind he knew not to mention the other girl to Saber. That did beg the question of just who she was.

"Eh, just curious. Some versions of the legends say King Arthur had a second child. I guess those ones aren't true then, huh?"

 _I bet if Father did have another kid, he'd actually have cared about him…_ Mordred thought to herself bitterly. "No, they aren't. What, do I not exist in some of them either?"

"Honestly… no."

 _To think people would hate me so much some of them would pretend I never existed…_

"Hey, Mordred…" Batreaux said. He'd sensed his friend was starting to seem more depressed than usual, and recalling how similar she'd acted after their shared 'dream', decided to try and cheer her up. "What do you say we go get some new clothes, then find some food, huh?"

"Hmm. Yeah, alright."

 **.-.**

"Damn, this place is actually pretty great! It may not look like much, but the food here is delicious!" Mordred happily devoured her fourth dish at the coffee shop she and Batreaux made their way to after picking out some new outfits. She'd decided to be adventurous this time and had ordered… well, everything. The girl's appetite was as strong as ever, and even though it wasn't quite as surprising to him now, Batreaux still marveled at how much his Servant could eat. Pork curry, mushroom pasta, salad, and now meat pie. All of it gone, and still more on the way.

"Yeah, it's pretty great. Kinda odd how close it was to the bridge though. And I am a bit disappointed they don't have mapo tofu here, but hey, whatever."

Saber swallowed the current bite of her curry and looked at him. "Really? I didn't take you for the type to like spicy food, Batreaux."

"It's actually my favorite food, honestly." Batreaux was wearing a black polar fleece jacket and enjoying the welcome warmth and insulation from the winter air it provided. His companion Mordred had picked out new dark red jeans and a black, fur trimmed leather jacket. She'd also selected white sneakers. All-in-all, Mordred was feeling pretty good. That said…

"Hey, Batreaux. Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well, you said yourself that food helps you get mana, and I have the money for it, so why not?"

"Okay, but that doesn't explain the clothes," Saber said after finishing a glass of milk, "Or how easily you seem to have handled being in contact with, well, _me._ "

"…I'll be honest, Mordred. When I was a kid, I used to _**hate**_ you. Or rather, I hated what I thought you were. Then, when I grew up I realized how stupid I was being. Even if you were evil, you weren't completely responsible for everything that had happened. After all, your mom's the one who came up with the plan to have you kill your father in the first place."

Saber put down her utensils and looked down to her side, thinking about his words. "So then, this is all…"

"Yeah, to an extent. You could say I'm doing all this stuff for you as a way of making up for how I thought of you before we actually met. That seems kind of pathetic though, so let's just say it's because you're my friend."

"Right, but… You were doing stuff like this even before I said we were friends. And earlier today you said you could 'relate to me'. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I'd like to know what you meant by that."

Batreaux thought to himself silently for a moment. Saber seemed to realize that his rationale for breaking off their conversation earlier was a personal one, as she was willing to let it slide without further elaboration. _That wouldn't be fair, though._ He thought. "Alright, Saber. I saw part of your memories, so it only seems fair I tell you what I meant.

"…. I was bullied a _lot_ as a kid. It got pretty bad, to the point I still have scars. It probably contributed to my hatred of you, if that makes sense. I know what I've been through can't even begin to compare to how bad your life must've been, but… I know what it's like to be alone. So if you really consider me your friend, then for now at least, neither of us is alone."

"Wow. That… That's bullshit."

"W-what?" Mordred leaned forwards over the table, a calm but angry expression on her face. Batreaux could tell it wasn't directed at him, at least.

"If it got so bad you have physical scarring, even now… Batreaux, it stopped being just 'bullying' at that point. That sounds more like _attempted murder._ " After a moment of silence between the two, Mordred's eyes slightly widened in realization. "Oh God. And I've been lording myself over you this entire time. Shit, man, you've probably been reminded of that several times by now…"

"Really, Mordred. It's fine." Batreaux said as he leaned back in his chair, "I'll admit it was a little irritating, but it's not a big deal. Like I said before, I don't mind working under you."

Mordred grimaced. She wasn't hungry anymore. _I wonder how much of that outlook is natural… Ghh. Humans really are bastards._ Her Master clearly still wasn't telling her the whole truth, but she was glad to let it go for now. "Alright, let's get back to the hotel. I don't really feel like eating anymore and you seem done."

Batreaux nodded and the two stood up and headed for the exit, where he paid for their meal. A man in sunglasses accepted their money and saw the two off with a wave. Once outside, the two took a moment to let their eyes adjust to the light before beginning their walk.

"By the way Mordred," Batreaux said, "I got these for you before we left for Japan. It's technically illegal for you to have these, but as long as you keep them to yourself we should be fine." Saber accepted the item and raised an eyebrow upon noticing Batreaux had handed her a carton of cigarettes. She opened the pack and removed one before placing it between her teeth and the carton in her left pocket. A quick snap of her fingers and a tiny bit of power from her Mana Burst skill ignited the cigarette with crimson sparks.

She took a deep draw before her face screwed up. Mordred hacked and coughed the smoke out of her lungs. She may have technically been a dragon, but even so it tasted foul. "Oi, what the hell is in this thing?"

"Basically poison," her Master said simply. "It shouldn't really have an effect on Servants though, and as long as people know what they're getting into I couldn't care less what they put in their bodies. Better this than something like hard drugs honestly." Mordred shrugged her shoulders before putting the cigarette back in her mouth. She could probably get used to the flavor soon enough.

"You want one?" she asked.

"No thanks," Batreaux said. "Personally I don't really care for anything like that except alcohol. The day you see me smoke is the day I die."

"Suit yourself."

 **.-.**

 _Hey boss,_ Lancer of Red spoke to their Master, voice unusually serious, _It happened._

"Yes, I felt it too. I would imagine several of the more powerful or experienced Servants gathered in the city noticed as well. Our priorities have shifted."

 **.-.**

And indeed, two Servants did notice the disturbance. Within the walls of the indoor swimming pool Exciting Splash, the King of Beach-goers Gilgamesh, or Gil as his patrons knew him, looked up from his desk and raised one golden eyebrow. The release of power on its own didn't interest him in the slightest, what caught his attention was the feeling of it. It was entirely unlike anything he had known before. Such an experience did not happen often for the original Golden King, why, within recent memory only two individuals had prompted such a response.

Whatever the source of this power was, the fact remained that it being unknown to him meant it was something that did not exist in his treasury, and therefore something he did not own. This warranted investigation. "Minazuki! I am heading out into the city for a while. You will, of course, be compensated for the time I am away." The king's faithful Assistant Manager nodded as his boss stood up and looked out over his domain.

Of course, many patrons were enjoying the various current, wave, and racing pools, along with the slides and diving boards. All of them king sized, of course. Gilgamesh had even added a set of waterfalls modeled after those from when he reigned over Uruk. Out of the corner of his eye, Gilgamesh noticed the lavender haired figure of Ruler, currently dressed in a black bikini and sunhat, leave the artificial beach and head for the changing rooms. He grinned to himself, for the woman with the divinely sculpted body that rivaled his own in beauty had certainly taken notice of the strange power as well.

 _Hmm. Perhaps it would be a good idea to allow Ruler a headstart._ The King of Heroes grinned again. Surely he of all people had the time to put on a show for his subjects. "Minazuki! One more thing before I leave. Set the largest wave pool to its highest setting. I will show these mongrels who the King of Waves is!"

 **.-.**

 _Do you think he'll be able to handle it? From what you've described of it, that power isn't something to be taken lightly._ Lancer's mercenary Master paused to take a long draw from his cigarette and thought. Eventually, he answered his Servant.

"There are only three possible outcomes to this war now. Either he manages to suppress this power, in which case we will inevitably win. Or he dies before that can happen. And that is not an outcome I am willing to accept, Empty One."

 _Oh ho? And what would the third ending to our little journey be?_

Lancer's Master was silent once more. In his years as a magus, he had traveled the world many times over and gained many unique experiences and skills. Batreaux was not the first youth he had encountered to hold such a strange potential within him, but there was a very real, very dangerous possibility he would be the last. He would not accept the boy's death. Which meant in reality, there was only two ways the Holy Grail War could end.

"The final outcome…. Is that he fails to suppress this power, and it overwhelms him. Should that happen, the utter destruction of this city and every living thing within it is a low estimate of the havoc that could be unleashed." Lancer's Master returned his attention to writing down what the Servant had learned of the Blue faction the previous night, specifically of Archer and Berserker.

 _ **Archer: Proficient in several different forms of combat. Prefers the use of twin Chinese swords. Can fire swords as 'arrows.' Threat potential: Unclear.**_

 _ **Berserker: Relies primarily on raw physical ability, but retains immense skill, especially deadly when paired to his even greater strength. Noble Phantasm possesses regenerative properties, can seemingly return from death immune to what previously killed him. Deaths currently: drowning, electrocution. Limits of regeneration unclear. Threat potential: Extreme.**_

 _Hmmm. Yeah, that sounds preeetty bad,_ Lancer said, shifting his attention back to the topic of Batreaux's awakening, _but I think me and that gold guy could handle it if we teamed up. Got any plans just in case?_

"Pray, Lancer. Pray to what few gods you haven't earned the ire of. Should the worst come to pass, even your powers won't be enough to stop it."

 **.-.**

 **Fate/Stay night: Dai Taisen**

 **Episode 8: Winter Days, Why We Fight**

 **.-.**

 **Sorry for the delay, (again) I've been looking for a new job recently so that takes up a lot of time. Also wasn't quite sure about certain sections in this chapter. I hope they don't come off as too forced. I did do my research to make sure one of them fits in with the greater Fate lore, so don't worry, there's a reason for it.**

 **Hope you've all got your FP ready for ya boy Angra Mainyu in about a week. Personally I hope to NP5 him.**

 **Q/C/C in the review if you leave one, see you all later.**


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